Womanizer No More
by cookielover123
Summary: Set around the fifth season. Contains domestic abuse. What happens when Mark's ex-girlfriend turns up out of the blue? Will they live happily ever after or will he only hurt her again? Original characters - Zoey and justin. Mark/Lexie, Mer/Der, Mark/Zoey
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **_Warning – this chapter contains domestic violence. If you don't want to read it then please wait until the next chapter is up. _

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Zoey, a 22 year old, started searching for a clean pair of jeans she could wear the following day for college. She found a pair that had been thrown in to the back of her cupboard but had more creases in it than a used hankie. She knew her boyfriend was downstairs ironing a shirt or something but she was terrified to ask him to do her jeans for her. She wasn't very good at the domestic stuff such as cooking and cleaning. The best she could do was heat up a pizza or boil the odd egg. Justin was better at all that which was why she couldn't believe her luck when she met him and moved in with him as they had agreed that as long as Zoey dealt with their finances, something she knew more about, he would do the domestics. However what she didn't realise was that he was a drunk – actually not so much a drunk, more of an alcoholic. She also didn't realise when she agreed to move in with him was that he got violent when he drank. Slowly peering in to the living room, she could see just over half a dozen cans of beer rolling around the table and lying on the floor. There was one or two on top of the television which she had to quickly remove before they got knocked over. This was the usual state of the apartment when she got home from her part time job at a day care centre. She worked there whenever she didn't have college so she could pay the bills and the weeks food shopping. She never got a social life – she didn't have the time. If she wasn't at college doing an economics course, she would be at the day care centre cleaning up after other people's 2 year old babies. When she got home, she would be cleaning up after her 28 year old boyfriend, although she never noticed the difference between the babies and Justin. She didn't dare ask him to tidy his cans up once he had finished with them. The last time she did that he went mental, screamed at her and ended it with slapping her across her face a few times. Tears welled in her eyes at the memory of both cheeks stinging at each contact. That wasn't her boyfriend; it was just the drink talking. She tried to avoid him when he got in that state, staying at the day care centre later than she should or going off to college to finish a paper she had handed in a few weeks earlier.

Zoey drew in a breath and walked in to where Justin was doing a shirt. He had done a couple of others that still had a few crease in but who was she to argue. "Baby, as you're doing those, could you possibly iron these jeans for me please?"

Justin looked at her like she had just suggested he jumped off a cliff or something. Zoey held her breath. She hated it when he looked at her like that because she knew exactly what was coming ….

_Meanwhile …_

Mark Sloan and Derek Shepherd were hanging around the nurses' station gossiping together like a couple of teenage school girls. The nurses were pretending to be busy doing something but kept an ear out for something interesting.

"So, yeah, last night they were up all night and all I wanted to do was go to bed. Even when I promised Meredith sex, it just didn't work." Derek complained to his best friend.

"How would that have worked? Surely if you guys had sex then you wouldn't be going to sleep." Mark asked him.

"It would have stopped the girly screeching! I'm glad she and Lexie are getting on now but a man has a right to some sleep right?"

Mark nodded and turned round to lean his back up against the desk. He clocked Lexie Grey walking out towards the elevator. Their eyes locked together and he winked at her. She may have been forbidden fruit but there was definitely something about her. Perhaps it was because she's forbidden fruit or perhaps it's because she's only 24. Either way, she excited Mark. The first girl to do so in 5 years ….

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_SLAP!_ Zoey's cheek stung from the contact of Justin's right hand. When Justin told her he wouldn't iron her jeans for her, she had stupidly asked him why not.

"It's about time you learnt to do it yourself!" He yelled at her. "I'm fed up of doing everything around here for you! You're not a baby anymore – about time you fucking learnt!"

"I don't know how to." Zoey started to explain feebly. "If you showed me how …" She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence as a fist had swung for her and had knocked her for six. "I don't have time to do it, baby." She managed to splutter through the blood that was now coming out her mouth. Knowing she needed to get to the hospital and fast, she knew that trying to argue back was not going to get her anywhere.

Justin got down to her level and pulled her face up by her jaw and leaned in "Make time then!" he screamed at her. Standing up to leave, he kicked her while she was down, literally, and walked out. Crying out in agony, Zoey pulled her phone out from her pocket and rang the first number she thought of. When the other end picked up she said, "Derek, I'm coming in. No, it's my jaw this time."


	2. Chapter 2

"Do you want an ambulance? At least let me come and get you." Derek had asked over the phone. It was a pretty quiet evening with nothing major going on; all he needed to do was check on a couple of post-op patients.

"No need, I'm here already. A neighbour brought me here while I was talking to you." He heard a voice sound from behind him. He turned round and saw a young girl who was no taller than 5" 3 standing in front of him with black eyes, bleeding nose and a jaw that was quite clearly broken. Immediately he paged Sloan and Torres who came running when they got a 911 page. Well Torres did, Sloan was a bit caught up with a certain intern in a certain on-call room on a certain 3rd floor.

"Good lord what happened to you?!" Callie shrieked when she saw Zoey's face covered in blood.

"Her boy-" Derek started before Zoey, who said she was mugged, interrupted him. Derek just stared at her. That was the same excuse she had used the first time she was checked in to Seattle Grace Hospital. She had told Derek what really happened then so why wasn't she being honest now? He figured he would find that out later.

"Well they did you up really bad. Did you call the cops?" Callie asked.

"No, I didn't think there was much point. They had drunk a lot." Zoey explained, mainly aiming the last sentence at Derek hoping he'd get the idea.

"How do you that?" Callie questioned.

"Oh I could smell it on their breath. They wouldn't have done it if they hadn't been drinking in the first place … I assume." She added when she saw the confused look on Callie's face. Derek put them together and shook his head.

"Let's get her in to an OR, this needs to be sorted quickly before there's too much damage. I'm going to need to do a MRI scan to make sure there's no damage to the brain. Are you going to be ok with that?" he asked Zoey who simply nodded. She hated coming up to the actual hospital. She was more than happy to work at the Day Care Centre downstairs but when it came to the actual bit where sick people went to, she froze. She never really spoke to any of the doctors or nurses, in fact other than Derek who she had known for 5 years from New York and the doctors who treated her (last time it was Dr. Hahn when Justin had punched her in her stomach), she didn't even know who worked there.

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Mark Sloan laid on the most uncomfortable bed imaginable. The pillow was thin and the sheets were itchy, yet he and Lexie just laid there together not noticing the pricks in their backs. Mark's pager kept going off which he eventually looked at when it beeped for the 5th time. When he saw the 911 he jumped up and pulled his scrubs back on.

"What's the matter?" Lexie asked him.

"I got a 911. I'll catch you up later ok?" He quickly kissed her on the head and left Lexie to her own devices. He sprinted out the door and over to a patients room where Callie was waiting for him with Christina Yang and one other Intern. Within seconds Lexie bounded up towards them, tying her hair up in a ponytail. Mark had figured they had just paged her.

"Mark where were you? Actually don't want to know." They all walked in to the room where Zoey laid. "Right who's presenting?"

The other intern who Mark didn't know but knew him as 2 seeing that's what Yang called him stood forward and said, "Zoey Heart has a broken nose and a fractured jaw. She has been taken in for head scans which came back negative."

Mark perked up at the name Zoey Heart and wondered where he knew that name. It sounded so familiar but he figured it was probably a name of an old patient or someone on a television show. It wasn't exactly a rare name, Zoey Heart. "Ok Grey, what are the procedures?" He heard Callie as the Lexie. Usually he would have paid attention to what she said but right at that moment he just couldn't shift the nagging feeling that he knew her from somewhere. At that moment Derek entered the room to inform everyone that the OR was prepped and ready.

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A couple of hours had passed and the surgery was a success. Zoey was asleep in the recovery room where she would remain for a couple of days a week tops. Mark was looking over he chart when Derek approached him. "You seem very distracted. Who is she?" Derek teased.

"That's what I want to know." Mark answered him, in an inquiring tone.

"What? Mark if you don't know how is anyone else going to?"

"I was hoping you could tell me that."

Derek looked at him like he had lost his mind. When he asked Mark if he had, Mark explained about how he thought he knew the patient from somewhere. Derek sighed. He knew exactly how he knew her but couldn't quite bring himself to tell him. He knew he should seeing as Zoey would be devastated if he walks in to her room without a second thought about what happened 5 years ago in a New York bar.


	3. Chapter 3

Derek walked in to Zoey's room to check up on her as her doctor and friend. He wasn't sure if she should mention Mark to her. He didn't even know if she knew he was a doctor in the hospital let alone the one that helped restructure her jaw. "Hey, how you doing Zo?" He asked her.

"My face hurts." She said groggily, but with a smile.

Derek chuckled at her. "Don't worry that will go within the next couple of days." He then looked serious at her. "Why are you still with that asshole Zoey? After what he did to you the first time?"

Zoey looked away and just shrugged. "I love him."

"How can you love someone who will put you in hospital?"

"It's not like that Derek. It only happens when he's drunk. Besides, that's only happened twice."

"You may have ended up in hospital twice Zoey, but how many times has he hurt you? Both emotionally and physically?"

She looked away. Zoey knew he was right but couldn't bring herself to admit defeat. She always wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. He always apologised afterwards and she knew he didn't mean it. He just got aggressive when he drank.

"Why won't you leave him Zoey?" Derek asked her. "You told me you would the first time he hit you."

"He loves me and I love him. He doesn't mean it Derek! I told you, it only happens when he's drunk."

"And how often is he drunk? Because I know it's not once a month, not even once a week."

"Shut up, you're wrong! It's not as often as that!"

"Zoey can't you see I'm worried about you? You may have convinced Dr. Torres you were mugged but if she knew the truth, she would also be standing here with me convincing you to leave him, as well as Mark!" As soon as he said that he wished he hadn't. That wasn't how she was going to find out about him fixing her face.

"Yeah well, they don't even know me!" Zoey yelled, not realising who Derek was referring to.

"That's where you're wrong Zoey. Okay, Dr. Torres may not but Dr. Sloan certainly does and I know he'll want you out of that environment straight away."

Zoey lay that stunned. Did he really say Dr. Sloan? Dr. Mark "Manwhore" Sloan? The gorgeous, sexy plastic surgeon she met in a bar in New York five years ago? Derek saw the look on her face when he called him Dr. Sloan and knew what she was thinking. "Yes Zo, after everything he came here looking for me and got a job in the process."

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Mark picked up his charts and walked to the room with his first patient of his shift. He walked in to the room where he saw Derek and his patient look extremely friendly, like they had known each other for years. At that moment, his patient looked up and their eyes met. Right at that moment, it clicked. The reason why Derek and his patient looked like they had been friends for years was because they had been friends for years, well for the past five years. Not only that but he had known Zoey Heart on a more intimate level. The fact that she was here freaked him out. He never thought he would see her again and he had that horrible feeling like something bad was about to happen. He mumbled his apologies and quickly ran out the room, bumping in to Lexie Grey whom he promptly ignored despite her calling his name on several counts. Knowing he was going to regret that, he didn't care; he just had to get out of there. He had operated on her face, the same face that he had stared every day for two weeks. The two eyes he saw sparkle in the moonlight, the face he thought he would never forget. Albeit he hadn't forgotten it, he had just had a memory relapse, which soon returned as soon as he looked in to the most beautiful green eyes he had ever seen. How could he forget? He had been besotted by that face for months afterwards, so how could he forget?

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"That coward!" Zoey exclaimed, furious at his immediate departure.

"It was a bit of a shock Zo." Derek said, trying to reason with her.

"Shock! I'll give him a shock! He operated on my face! He must have had enough time to get over it by now!"

"He might have just realised who you are." Derek told her but soon regretted it as she suddenly went off on a massive rant.

"Just realised?! What do you mean just realised? What are you saying? That he forgot who I was? That bastard! How could he forget about me? A day hasn't gone past when I haven't thought about him! I know it was five years ago and I'm not saying he should always be thinking about me but he should at least have the decency to remember who I am!"

Derek smiled, trying desperately to hide his laughter. Since Derek came to Seattle he and Zoey stayed in touch and remained very good friends, despite what happened between her and Mark. When she came across the country for college two years ago, Derek was the first person she contacted and he was the only person who knew about how her boyfriend treats her. He was still convinced that if it wasn't for Mark's behaviour, Zoey would never have met Justin and she wouldn't be in the hospital right now, recovering from a major surgery.

"Derek, don't you dare laugh at me, it's not funny!" Zoey looked at him stunned that he would even think about laughing, which of course made Derek laugh even more. She sighed. "I hate you, you know that?" She said with a smile.

"You only wish you hated me." Derek laughed. "Do yourself a favour, calm down and get some sleep. You're going to need to rest. I've gotta get going, got other patients to see. Sleep Zoey." He reminded her while kissing her gently on her head. He walked out her room shaking his head and laughing. Mark was going to pay for this and he knew that it wasn't going to be pretty.


	4. Chapter 4

Zoey lay in her bed in the hospital room getting agitated. Not only was she not able to work, she wasn't able to go to college which is what she missed most. She also had Derek constantly breathing down her neck trying to convince her to leave Justin and Dr. Torres making sure her face remained fixed. She was a big girl and she was adamant that she loved Justin and he loved her and she knew that deep down, he didn't mean to physically hurt her. She felt that as long as he doesn't cheat on her, everything will be ok and she will stay with him. It was the second day she was confined to bed rest; Dr. Torres, Derek and Mark were in her room along with two other doctors who she thought were interns who she presumed were there to learn. She had planned to make it very difficult for Mark who just stood there silently listening to what the other doctors had to say. Every so often Zoey noticed Mark glancing over at her and then looking away. This gave her emission to put her make-Mark-Sloan-as-uncomfortable-as-possible plan in to action. After the 10th time she noticed Sloan looking over at her, she said nonchalantly, "Excuse me doctor but is there something wrong with my face?" which made Callie Torres stop mid sentence and everyone else in the room stare at her.

"Everything okay Miss Heart?" She asked her.

"Well no not really. Dr. Sloan here keeps looking at me and I want to know why. I mean if there's something wrong with my face then I think I have a right to know."

All attention from the other doctors turned to Mark who stood there embarrassed but quickly said, "No - nothing's wrong, I'm just admiring my work." And then gave Zoey a look that said don't mess with me who just returned an innocent smile. Whilst Callie and one intern didn't notice this, Derek and Lexie did and neither liked what they saw. Derek just shook his head and continued from where Callie left off and Lexie tried to smile but and listen to what Dr. Shepherd was saying but her eyes gave her away. Something was going on with Mark and Miss Heart and she was determined to find out what it is.

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Two hours later, Lexie entered Zoey's room, pretending to check her charts. "Hey. I'm Dr. Grey."

"Oh hi. Wait, are you Meredith?" Zoey asked her. Derek had told her all about this wonderful Meredith Grey, daughter of the legend Dr. Ellis Grey but she had never actually met the woman.

"No I'm Lexie but Meredith's my sister. Well half sister but sister all the same. We share a father, if you could call him that."

Zoey just nodded and smiled. Wow this girl rambled on a lot.

"So how do you know about Meredith?" Lexie inquired. If she was going to find out about her and Mark then she might as well start somewhere.

"Oh well I'm good friends with Der – I mean Dr. Shepherd and he's always telling me about her but I've never actually met her." Zoey laughed.

Lexie smiled. If she was friends with Derek and Derek was best friends with Mark, maybe that's all it was between her and Mark. Well she could only hope. "How long you been friends with Derek then?" she asked innocently.

"About five years. I met him and Mark in New York … Sorry I don't mean to be rude but is there a reason why you're asking me so many questions?" Zoey asked suspiciously.

"Oh I'm just curious. So you know Mark huh?"

Zoey wondered exactly how much she knew and whether she should tell her. "Yeah I know him. I knew him _very_ well if you get what I mean. I'm guessing he's still the same womanising manwhore he was back then." Zoey smirked.

Lexie nodded and remained silent. "Well not so – so much any – anymore." Lexie stuttered. So there was a history there, so they did sleep together. For how long and how many times? She knew Mark was a manwhore and she knew he had slept with Addison all those years ago but what happened with these two was what she really wanted to know. She saw the look on Mark's face when he ran out the room the day before and it wasn't just a coincidence that he didn't hear her like she originally thought. Could he still like her?

"Really? You mean he's reformed? I wonder how long that's going to last for." Zoey joked. She looked over at her and saw her face full of … Zoey didn't know how she felt but it couldn't have been anything good. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"I'm fine."

"Liar." Zoey smiled. She quite clearly wasn't fine and she had a feeling the talk of Mark Sloan had made her feel that way. Zoey definitely sympathized with her. She was young girl who had quite clearly fallen for Mark's charms. "Let me guess, he's slept with you once and now won't return your phone calls, text messages, the whole shebang?"

"Not exactly. We slept together – are sleeping together. Just no one knows."

"And that gives him reason to go sleeping with everyone else?" Zoey guessed.

"No. He's not, just me. Just in secret."

"And you want it to not be in secret but he refuses to commit."

"Something like that."

Zoey nodded. She knew exactly how this intern felt, to full for his charms, catch him but never really have him. "Hey listen, do you want to know what happened between me and Mark?"

Lexie nodded. Even though she knew she wasn't going to like what she going to hear, she had to know. After all, this girl was back in Mark Sloan's life so she might as well get the gory details over with.

**Next couple of chapters will be a flash back to what happened five years ago.**


	5. Chapter 5

Five years earlier ….

Zoey and her friend Sarah walked in to a local bar in New York City, near to where they lived. They were both 17 but they still got in due to the fact that they looked 21, the outrageous flirting with the bouncers and their fake Ids. They walked over to the bar and ordered themselves some drinks. They sat there laughing together and scanning the room for hot guys.

"_Ok two hot guys over there!" Sarah shouted above the music that was now in full swing. Zoey looked over to where her friend was pointing and saw two guys in leather jackets take a seat at a table. She was right, they were incredibly hot but they looked about 30._

"_Are you kidding me? Sarah they're like old enough to be your dad!" Zoey exclaimed._

"_So what? Come on, it's just a bit of fun!" Sarah pulled Zoey up off the stool and dragged her over to where the two men were sitting. It wasn't like Zoey was shy or anything, far from it, she just felt there was a line and flirting with someone old enough to be their dad was crossing it slightly, albeit the bouncers outside were probably older than her dad but that had a purpose, this didn't. _

"_Hey! Sorry if this embarrasses you but me and my friend were just talking and we both agree that you guys are really hot." She said nonchalantly. Unbelievable, Zoey thought. There was no way in hell was that going to get them anywhere. However she had been wrong before and she was wrong this time as the two guys started laughing and asked them to join them._

"_You girls are pretty hot yourselves." The guy with the bum fluff around his face complimented them. Both girls giggled as they each pulled up a chair._

"_What are your names? The clean-shaven guy asked. _

"_I'm Sarah and that's Zoey. Hey, you look really familiar, what's your name?" she asked the clean-shaven guy._

"_Really? Well I'm Derek and that's Mark."_

_Two hours later …_

_The four of them were laughing and joking together like they had been friends for years. Zoey didn't know if it was because the guys were so easy going or because of the amount of alcohol they had all consumed but either way she didn't care. She was having the time of her life for the first time since her parents got divorced six months prior to that evening. Derek and Sarah had got up to dance leaving Mark and Zoey alone. _

"_So what is it you do again?" Zoey asked for the umpteenth time. _

_Mark laughed. He had told her 5 times already. "I'm a plastic surgeon – the best in my field, the top in the east coast."_

"_Wow, that's impressive, not to mention extremely modest of you." Zoey said smiling. He may have been old enough to be her dad but he definitely had a certain charm about him. _

"_Yep but it happens to be true." He said, flashing her this extremely sexy smile. She felt her knees go weak. She was so grateful they were sitting down. "So are you going to tell me how old you are or do I have to keep guessing?" he asked her._

"_How old do you think I am?" she asked flirtatiously. There was no way she was going to tell him her actual age unless he guessed it. If he guessed correctly, it meant that he knew and wasn't bothered by it. If he guessed incorrectly then she would risk ruining what was turning in to a pretty unbelievable night._

"_I'm going to go with 21 at least." He said, pulling her chair closer to his. "Now here's the million dollar question, how old do you think I am?"_

_Zoey bit her bottom lip. She could smell his cologne and it smelt amazing. "What do I get if I guess correctly?" She asked, rubbing her tongue over her top teeth. Mark stared at her mouth, at her tongue going over and over her pearly white teeth. Mark grinned. "I'll tell you what you get if you guess correctly."_

_Zoey looked at him up and down. He had taken his leather jacket off and she could see due to his short sleeves that he had pretty muscular muscles. She figured that he must have a muscular, toned body to match. "I'm going to have to check something first." She said as she got up and stood behind Mark's chair. She bent down and kissed him softly on his lips before whispering in his ear so no one else could hear, "Meet me outside." And walked off before he could say anything back to her. She had no idea where that came from but she loved having that confidence. Mark watched her walk over to her friend, staring at her ass the whole time. Who was that girl and why hadn't he met her before? Zoey walked over to where Sarah and Derek were still dancing and whispered to her that she was going outside and would text her if she wasn't coming back. _

_Mark waited a few minutes before he walked over to Derek and told him that he was going and not coming back. Derek assumed he was taking Zoey back to his apartment. He smirked at him before taking Sarah back to their table for a break. Mark went outside and saw Zoey standing there, looking gorgeous with straight auburn hair, a figure hugging black dress and green eyes that sparkled in the moonlight. He got a sudden lump in his throat and he felt his stomach do back flips. It was the first time he properly looked at her and he couldn't believe what he was looking at. If this is what love at first sight felt like then bring it on. Zoey approached him. "I was wondering when you were going to come out." She smiled. Mark grinned back and before either person could say another word, he grabbed her face and kissed her with all the passion he could master. He had only spent a couple of hours with this girl but she did something to him that no other girl did – she made him feel alive and free._

_They pulled away after a couple of minutes, neither wanting to break the kiss. "I'm going to say you're about 30." Zoey teased. _

_Mark laughed at her statement. "You kissed a lot of 30 year olds then?" _

"_Not really but you seem like you've had a lot of experience and you're too hot to be any older than that." she said, kissing him briefly on the lips and then walking away. Mark stared after her amazed. Zoey looked back and said, "You coming or are you going to make me guess where you live?" Mark walked over to her and gave her the same sexy smile that made her go weak at the knees. "Just follow me." He said, taking her hand and walked her to where he parked his car. They got in and worked their way to Mark's apartment. _


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: this chapter is still a flashback of 5 years ago.

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After they went back to Mark's apartment, he told her he and Derek were actually 33 and usually a massive age gap would bother her but this time it was different. She didn't think it was a big deal. So instead of running away, she pushed him on to his bed and leaned forward to kiss him. She slowly got on top of him and he ran his hands down her back and slowly removed her dress over her head. Zoey thought that maybe this was the time to tell him she wasn't actually 21 but at the mere age of 17 but she couldn't bring herself to tell him. She figured she would tell him afterwards because she assumed that after tonight she would never see him again. Mark rolled her over on to her back and started to kiss her going down her neck and on to her collarbone. He stopped and just looked at this beauty beneath him. She was a curvy girl, which was perfect for him. He hated those stick thin girls who looked like they hadn't eaten anything for a month. He guessed her dress size was probably a size 8 (that's a 12 in English sizes) and that turned him on even more. It meant that she was perfectly happy with how she looked and he loved seeing self-confidence in a girl. He carried on kissing the perfect body down to her flat stomach. She was wearing matching black lingerie, which as far as he was concerned needed to come off. Before he could do anything more, Zoey pulled him up and planted her lips on his. She pulled his t-shirt up over his head and threw it on to the pile next to the bed that was soon joined by pants, boxers and black lingerie. A few minutes later Mark entered her and for the next few hours, Zoey was lost in ecstasy.

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_Two weeks had past since that night and Zoey still hadn't told Mark her actual age. It wasn't like she didn't have the opportunity to do so; she and Mark had spent all their time together; she was just scared to tell him because she didn't want it to end. She knew that once he knew she was really 17, it would be the end of them; he would hate her for lying to him. They had spent most of their time with Derek as well as just spending time on their own, mainly in the bedroom. Zoey had really grown to like Derek as a friend so she loved hanging out with the two of them together. She laughed at the banter between them and she could tell they were really tight friends – something she never really had. She was really good friends with Sarah but they were never as close as these two men were. _

_Mark was in bed with Zoey lying on his chest. This was a totally new experience for him, as usually he would ask the girl to leave after they had sex, or she would go automatically, but it was different with Zoey. He didn't want her to leave and it never crossed his mind to ask her to go. He never really questioned it because he didn't want to admit to himself that he was falling for this girl, regardless of how little they knew of each other. "So where do you study?" Mark found himself asking her, stunning himself in the process. He could not believe he just asked her that while they were lying in bed. Usually the first thought was round 2, not where the girl studied. _

_This shocked Zoey because she had not expected him to ask her that. "That's what's going through your mind right now?" She asked him, ultimately surprised at the question. _

"_Yeah … I know, I'm shocked too!" He laughed as did Zoey but it was more of a nervous laughter. After all, she was only 17 and still in high school but there was no way she could tell him that now. The time to tell him her real age was long gone. Instead she told him what she wanted to do within the next few years but made out like she was doing it now. "I'm studying Economics at NYC." She explained to him. "You really want to have this conversation now?" Zoey asked him, not really wanting to tell him any more lies. She had come to find that she was falling for this guy and was feeling guilty enough that she lied about her age. _

"_Yeah I do actually. Zoey, I want to know everything about you. What do your parents do?"_

_Zoey laughed. This she could answer without lying. "My both parents are high top lawyers but work at different firms. My mum's here in New York and my Dad's in Seattle. They got divorced when I was 17." She told him before he could ask why the different states. She didn't know why she told him the last bit, about her parents being divorced when she was 17. It did happen but she was 17 now. It was as if she had fallen asleep and woken up 4 years later and was now an older wiser 21 year who was in bed with a man who was 12 years older than her. She felt guilty but she loved it. She loved that she was mature enough to be able to pass herself off as a 21 year old. She then asked Mark about his family who explained that they abandoned him in as much as leaving him on his own a lot to fend for himself. He told her how Derek's family was more like his family as his mum took him in and treated him like her own son. Zoey smiled. So that was the reason why he and Derek were so close, they were practically brothers. When Zoey mentioned this, Mark smiled and said, "Yeah we are. Derek is my brother and I wouldn't have it any other way." They spent the next three hours just talking; something neither Zoey nor Mark was used to. _

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_A month after they had first met, Zoey and Mark went out for dinner. Mark had chosen a romantic restaurant where they had a massive three-course meal. After they had eaten, they went for a walk inside Central Park. They found a nice patch of grass by a tree and they laid down on their side looking at each other, just talking. Mark couldn't believe what this girl was doing to him. In just under a month, she was all he could think about, she drove him crazy but not in a bad way – in the best possible way he could think of. They stopped talking after 10 minutes and just fell silent smiling at each other. Mark couldn't resist it any longer and leaned in to kiss her. It was just a gentle kiss but it was all he needed. He laid back and pulled her down with him and he held her in his arms. Zoey's feelings for him grew even more just then; that evening couldn't have been more perfect even if they tried. It was at that moment she knew he had to know the truth about her age. The question was, how was he going to take it? Will he be ok with it or will he hate her forever? Either way, Zoey prepared herself for the worst. _

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**The next chapter is going to continue this flashback where Zoey tells Mark her real age**


	7. Chapter 7

Zoey woke up the following morning with every intention to tell Mark the truth. The day was going perfectly. He picked her up from their usual meeting place and they shared a coffee together before they headed off to do some shopping. "What ever you want or need babe, I'll get it for you."

Zoey being Zoey shook her head. There was no way she was going to let him do that. She had enough money to get her mother something for her birthday and that's all she wanted. "Don't be silly. I don't need anything anyway; I only need a present for my mum."

Mark glanced over at her and smiled. "Well you may not need anything but I'm sure there's something you want."

Zoey shook her head vigorously. "Nope. Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"That's right. There is nothing I want."

Mark laughed. "Okay, fine but I want to get you something pretty." He said putting emphasis on the word I.

Zoey giggled at the cliché. Her "Something pretty? Thanks but I don't want you to spend any money on me."

Mark shook his head. "Okay, I won't if you don't want me to." Zoey was a stubborn girl and he knew better than to argue with her. However, he had already made his mind up and he was going to get her something whether she liked it or not.

3 hours later …

The two of them had been in Macey's for three hours trying to find the perfect present for Zoey's mother and with great success. They had stopped off for lunch at their favourite restaurant where they had their first date. Half way through the meal, Mark handed Zoey a small box.

Confused, Zoey opened it and gasped. Inside was the beautiful diamond necklace that she had seen in Macey's and had fallen in love with. She couldn't believe she was holding it in her hands. "Mark, how did you … when …why did you …oh my god!" she was speechless.

Mark laughed. "When you were looking at the bags I snuck off and bought it. Zo, I saw your face when you spotted it at the jewellery stand and I couldn't resist buying it for you."

"I don't know what to say. Thank you so much! You didn't have to, it was so expensive!" Zoey exclaimed with wide eyes.

"Yes, I know that but I wanted to. Baby, just seeing your face light up like that made it worth the while." Mark said sincerely. He had never wanted to spend so much money on anyone, let alone a girl but this was different – she was different. She wasn't like any other girl he had slept with. She was gorgeous and she didn't know it, which was such a turn on. He was so sick and tired of all the conventional pretty girls – tall, blonde hair, blue eyes, a size 2 and had a face full of make-up. Zoey didn't need make-up; she had perfect skin and an amazing complexion. Her green eyes always sparkled when she smiled and he just loved her smile. Her lips were a perfect pink and they always showed off her perfectly straight, white teeth. He looked over at her and saw that smile that he loved so much. That's when it clicked. He had fallen head over heals in love with the young girl and if truth be told, it scared him but he was willing to give it a go. Who wouldn't be scared after knowing someone for only a short time? He felt great whenever they were together so why not?

"You're amazing Mark." Zoey leaned over the table and kissed him tenderly on the lips. She couldn't believe her luck and it made her even more determined to tell him her actual age. She swallowed and took a deep breath; it was now or never. "Mark, I need to tell you something."

"Let me guess, you've just realised you have one at home?" Mark laughed but stopped when he saw how serious she was. "Are you okay? What do you need to tell me?" Please tell me you're not pregnant; I don't want to be a dad just yet. Mark thought to himself.

"I haven't been completely honest to you. I don't know how to tell you this so I'm just going to spit it out. Please don't say anything until I've finished."

"Okay." Mark nodded not liking where this was going.

Zoey swallowed again, slightly regretting starting this conversation but knew it was only right to continue. "You just have to know that I care about you a lot! I've loved spending all this time with you - it's been incredible! You are one amazing man and I wouldn't swap you with anyone! I just think you should know that I'm not as old as you think I am."

Mark listened to the last part and started to panic a little bit. She better be older than 20, I don't think I'll ever be able to handle it if she's not. He thought. "Well how old are you then?" he was terrified of the answer but he had to ask.

Zoey looked down and mumbled"17."

"What did you say?" he asked leaning in.

"17." She repeated, still mumbling but a little bit louder.

Did she say 17? Mark started to sweat and panic a little bit more. "Zoey please speak up." He said trying to not let the panic show in his voice but was failing.

His fears were confirmed when Zoey took a deep breath and said very clearly, "17." Mark couldn't believe it. He was stunned. Speechless even.

"Mark, please say something." Zoey tried to take his hand but he moved them quickly before she could which split her heart in two. "Mark will you look at me!" Zoey pleaded with him, tears starting to feel her eyes.

He didn't. He didn't say anything either, regardless of how much it pained him to do so but he just couldn't look at her because if he did, he was scared of what he might see. He didn't want to hurt her but all he could think about was the fact that he as 33 years old and was dating a girl who was fifteen years his junior.

"Mark, please look at me!" she said in a quivering voice. "It's still me Mark, it's still Zoey."

He couldn't hold it in any longer. Still not looking at her, he said quietly, "Still Zoey? I don't think so. My Zoey was a beautiful young woman. You are just a kid." He couldn't believe he had said that because the truth was, he didn't actually care. Without another word, he got up from his seat, dumped some money on the table and despite his best efforts to stay, to sit next to her and hold her in her arms, to tell her that it would be okay, he started to walk out. He was half way out when he heard it the soft sobs coming from behind him. He turned his head slightly and the sight before him shattered his heart in to a million pieces. Zoey just sat there watching him leave tears streaming down her face despite her wiping them away with her hand. He wondered how anyone could still look so beautiful when they are sobbing their heart out. He understood why she lied to him, as he probably would have told her where to go if she had said something earlier and that scared him. It scared him because he realised he wasn't the man-whore everyone made him out to be anymore. He actually understood Zoey and her reasoning for what she did. He walked out the restaurant door and exhaled. He turned round and out the corner of his eye, he saw her just sitting there. He turned round to face the window and at a better look, he saw the tears stream down her face and despite this, she was still the most beautiful woman in there. When he saw her respond to a lady in her fifties when she put her arm around her, he walked away. He had to – he couldn't take the pain any longer.

That was the last time they saw each other.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: this chapter is back to the present where Zoey is talking to Lexie Grey

Zoey wiped away a tear that had snuck out of her eye. She hadn't thought about that day when Mark had left her in the restaurant, crying her eyes out. She looked at Lexie and smiled weakly. She hadn't said a word for about five minutes after Zoey had stopped talking. She just sat there stunned. "S-sorry, I've er, I've got to- got to go." Lexie stuttered quietly. She got up and left Zoey to her thoughts which is the last thing she wanted to do as she seemed genuinely upset about the whole situation but Lexie had to get out of there. She wondered down to the nurses' station and handed back Zoey's charts. She stood there leaning on her hand with her elbow on the desk and started tapping her fingers. She wasn't sure how long she and Mark had been sneaking around together but she was pretty sure it was a lot more than a month and he had never bought her an expensive diamond necklace. The most she ever got was a hot coffee from the machine in the cafeteria, if she was lucky. Derek didn't even know they were together. Derek, Mark's best friend, didn't even know Mark was seeing her. She knew it was because Meredith didn't want them to be together but as far as she was concerned, it shouldn't matter what Meredith thought; Derek should know whom his best friend is seeing. Her thoughts were interrupted but her pager beeping. She saw it was Dr. Torres, obviously wanting to know the latest on Zoey Heart. She stood up straight and started to walk off to find Torres when she saw Mark Sloan walking towards her. She knew it had nothing to do with her but she felt really bad for Zoey. That whole situation was totally messed up. It was clear to her that he didn't like her as much as he was in to her and took a rational decision to let it remain like that. No way did she want to get in deeper if he was just going up and leave at the first sign of trouble. She turned around and started to walk off in the opposite direction.

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Mark saw Lexie stand up and walk towards him. His smile got wider as he started to approach but slowly faded in to a puzzled look when she turned around when she noticed. He quickened his pace and it wasn't long before he had managed to catch up with her.

"Hey Lex, fancy meeting me in the On-Call room later?" he smirked knowing that would get a reaction. He was right; it did get a reaction but not the one he was hoping for.

"Of course that's all you'd want. It's lunch in public and necklace's with Zoey but me it's just an On-Call room in privacy." She wished she hadn't said anything, not in the middle of the surgical floor but it had really bothered her.

Mark stared at her in disbelief. He knew what she was talking about and he just wondered how she knew, although he didn't need to for very long. He opened the nearest supply closet and pushed Lexie in. He locked the door and turned the light on so he could see her.

"Oh so you're swapping On-Call rooms for supply closets now, if you ask me that's a step-down." Lexie said sarcastically.

Ignoring her comment, Mark asked her the inevitable. "What has Zoey told you?"

Lexie said nothing and looked at him. His face was sincere and questioning. She sighed. "Everything."

"Everything?"

"Yes everything."

Mark looked at her. She saw pain in her eyes and wondered exactly what everything was. "Baby, you need to be more specific. Can you do that please?"

"Don't patronize me, Mark, and not don't call me baby. I am not your baby."

It hurt Mark to hear her say that. He cared so much for the young intern and he hated that they had to keep "them" a secret. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound patronizing Lex. Can you please just tell me what you know?"

"You just left her in that restaurant, Mark. You left her in tears and let a complete stranger comfort her. Is that what you're going to do when you and me start to get a bit tough. Is this why you refuse to tell Derek?"

"Lexie, you know why I can't tell Derek."

"That's not the point!" She said, starting to raise her voice. "The point is that you ran away when it started to get difficult. You bought her a diamond necklace Mark, the one she had her eye on, the one that was worth the expense because just seeing her face light up made it worth while." Lexie quoted what Zoey had told her.

Mark's heart tightened. He thought back to that day, before he found out the truth. Her face was a picture of delight when she opened that box and it brought him absolute happiness to see her like that. He remembered thinking that he wanted to buy her things all the time just to see the beautiful smile light up her face. He looked back at Lexie who had the look of hurt across her face. "Lexie that was five years ago."

"It may have been five years ago Mark, but doesn't mean she's over it and by the look on your face, I'd say you're not over it – over her." Lexie blinked back the tears that were threatening to leak out. "Please tell me I'm wrong." Please let me be wrong, I like him so much, hell I love him! She thought.

"Lexie, I-" He started but didn't finish because Lexie said, "Yeah, that's what I thought." She swallowed the lump in her throat that had quickly formed, pushed past him, unlocked the door and ran out to find Torres. Mark called out to her but she ignored him and shut the door on her way out. Mark sighed. The truth was that no, he wasn't over her. He had thought about that day he left her in the restaurant, her tear-stained face and the lady with her arm over her. Every time he thought about it, he regretted ever walking out that door. He wished that he could turn back time so he could run over to her and tell her that it he was an idiot and how sorry he was. He sighed again and ran a hand over his hair. Five years had passed and he had a long filled apology and an explanation as to why he acted like a total ass was due.

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Mark stopped outside Zoey's room. It had taken a lot of courage for him to get to this stage, all he had to do next was walk in and talk to her. Before he opened the door, Derek stopped him. "I wouldn't go in there, Mark. She's pretty pissed at you seeing as you forgot who she was." He warned him.

Mark looked at him with sorry eyes. "I know I've messed up but that's why I need to talk to her. I need to tell her how sorry I am."

"Mark, that girl has been through a lot without your help so the last thing she needs is to start opening old wounds."

"Like what? Derek, tell me what's been going on."

Derek sighed. He was sure she would appreciate him telling Mark about Justin beating her but he knew deep down that she'd see why he did so. Maybe Mark could convince her to leave the bastard. "Her boyfriend beats her up Mark. That's why she's here." He informed him quietly. "It isn't the first time she's ended up in hospital either. So if you're going to talk to her, be careful about what you say." Derek told him before walking off to prep for his next surgery. Mark took a look at her through the door. She was just as beautiful as he remembered, maybe even more so. He was shocked at what Derek had told him. He wondered how anyone could hurt so much as a hair on her head. He surprised himself as he felt anger build up at the very thought. He took a deep breath to calm down before walking in to the room.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Zoey looked up as she heard the door open, expecting it to be Derek to check up on her, so imagine her utter shock to see the plastic surgeon staring right back at her. "Zoey we need to talk."


	9. Chapter 9

_Zoey looked up as she heard the door open, expecting it to be Derek to check up on her, so imagine her utter shock to see the plastic surgeon staring right back at her. "Zoey we need to talk."_

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Zoey didn't know how to react. Part of her was curious and wanted to talk to him as she had so much to say but then the other part wanted to shout at him and wanted him to get out. She figured she'd let him talk and see what he was going to say. She could always throw him out if need be. Zoey gave him a look that said told him to start and Mark wanted to, he just didn't know how to start and what with. He decided to just be honest. "I've got a lot to say Zoey so just don't say anything for the moment. Just let me have my say and then you can say whatever you want. Just let me finish." He waited for her to say something but she remained silent so he continued. "I owe you an apology Zoey. I behaved like a complete asshole that day when I left you in the restaurant. A day has not gone past when I haven't thought about it, about you. I just want you to know that I wasn't upset because of your age, more because you lied to me. I stood there and watch you bawl your eyes out and no matter how much I wanted to comfort you, my stupid pathetic pride stopped me from going back inside. It broke my heart to see you like that Zoey and I haven't forgiven myself for allowing that to happen."

"Asshole? I think prick would be a better word." Zoey spat out.

"I'll admit that yes but please just let me finish."

Zoey remained silent so he could continue. She thought about what he had said and couldn't really believe it. Was he really apologising for something he did five years ago?

Mark continued when he was sure she wasn't going to say anything more. "I'm not usually one for spilling my feelings but I haven't found another girl who's as amazing as you were – are – in five years. Everything I told you all those years ago … I've never been that sincere with anyone, let alone feel that way. What I didn't tell you is that from the moment you stepped out the bar the night we met and the moonlight hit you I was smitten. I had never seen anyone look as stunning as you did that night." As much as Zoey had wanted to stay pissed she couldn't help but smile. No' one had said anything as truly wonderful as Mark had in the space of five minutes. "Basically what I want to say, Zo, is that I am truly, truly sorry for the way I behaved and I wish I could take it all back. The truth is, I was in love with you, and I can't believe I just said that." he smiled.

Zoey let out a sarcastic laugh at the last sentence. Everything he said was going good until he said that last sentence. "Ha! I don't think so!"

"What? Don't you believe me?" Mark asked her, a little taken back.

Zoey shook her head. "No, I don't believe you. How could you have been in love with me? It didn't take you very long to move on to someone else. You walked away from me and then a couple of weeks later, you moved on to someone else and not just anyone else, Derek's wife. How can you stand there and say you were in love with me?"

That knocked Mark back. "What? How did you know about that? How did you know he was married?"

"He told me Mark. I went round to his because he wanted to talk to me and he told me everything. I was shocked that he was married but instead of running away -" she said putting emphasis on the last two words, "-I stayed with him and talked to him about it. Yes I was shocked he was married but imagine how shocked I was to find out about you."

_Zoey walked in to Derek's house and found him sitting on his own with red eyes, he had clearly been crying. It had been three weeks after Mark had left her in the restaurant and Derek had called her up wanting to chat so she went straight over to his._

_"Hey Der, hey what's happened? Are you okay?" She asked the second she saw his eyes._

_"She's gone Zoey." Derek sniffed._

_"Who's gone?" She asked him confused._

_"Addison. My wife Addison."_

_"Why has she gone? Wait, you have a wife?" Zoey added surprised at this revelation._

_Derek nodded. "Eleven years we've been married and she threw it all away."_

_"Aw Der. How did she throw it away?" Zoey sympathized._

_Derek looked at her. "I can't tell you. It's going to devastate you Zo."_

_Zoey looked confused. "What's it got to do with me?" Derek stayed silent. "Derek, what's it got to do with me? Why will I be devastated?" she repeated._

_"Mark." He said with such distain in his voice._

_Zoey's heart dropped to the bottom of her stomach when he said his name and she didn't like the sound of his voice in which he used when saying it. "What's he got to do with anything?" she asked with almost a sense of anger in her voice._

_Derek looked at her. He really didn't want to be the one to tell her but he had already said too much and he knew that Zoey wouldn't drop it until he told her. He sighed before saying, "He slept with her Zo, my best friend slept with my wife."_

_Zoey felt like her world had been turned upside down. The man she was in love with had not only destroyed her life but his best friend's. She felt sick to the bottom of her stomach. All she wanted to do was find that bastard and smash his pretty face in._

Zoey looked away from Mark. She had never met Addison but she hated them both for what she had done to Derek. Mark was, for the first time, utterly ashamed for what he had done. He was more ashamed hearing it from Zoey than he had done when Derek had told him to stay away and that they were to never see him again. When he first kissed Addison and when she started to lead him upstairs, it never even crossed his mind that what he was about to do was going to hurt the two people he cared for most.

"I can explain." Mark started.

"Explain what, Mark? Explain why you were so inconsiderate to Derek, never mind me. You made it perfectly clear you wanted nothing more to do with me but Derek? What did he ever do to you to deserve that sort of betrayal?"

"It was a rebound thing, Zoey. We were talking and drinking – a lot. I was upset and she said I needed someone to get over you and she was just there. It just happened. She was telling me how her marriage was falling apart and we both needed the comfort."

"Comfort, Mark, in the English language, is a few nice words and perhaps a cuddle or a kiss on the head or something of the like. What the two of you did was a whole different level. It was something entirely different and the fact that you were so able to do so after you were so "heartbroken" about leaving me the way you did tells me everything. The truth is, you're nothing but a womaniser who thinks with his dick rather than his brain. You're a man-whore who will stick it anywhere regardless of who he might hurt."

Mark stared at her and said nothing. He felt like he had been punched in the stomach. He hated how she had summed him up because he wasn't like that anymore and he wanted nothing but to prove that to her. He just wanted to make things right but clearly she didn't want to know. Without saying another word he turned around and walked out. As he did so, he heard Christina Yang's voice from behind him say, "Wow, she totally put you in your place."  
He turned round and scowled at her. "Haven't you got interns to harass?" he said before storming off.


	10. Chapter 10

Two weeks later Zoey's face had healed and was looking as good as new. She was soon discharged and was very pleased to be able to go back to college. Her friend had given her the work she had missed so she was able to soon catch up on everything. The part she dreaded was going back to work because she knew that there was a chance that she would bump in to Mark. She had considered leaving but she needed the money so she could pay the bills as Justin spent all the money he earned on beer and larger. Derek had been concerned about her going back to the apartment with Justin. He had even offered her a place to stay at Meredith's until she could find somewhere else.

"_Zoey, I don't want you going back. Promise me you won't go back to him." Derek went on at her._

"_Derek, I'm not promising that. That place is my home and no way am I going to be pushed out of it. I'll go out when he starts drinking or just stay out his way."_

"_That won't work and you know it. I said you could stay with me and Meredith." Derek continued._

"_Yes I know you did but as much as I want to finally meet the woman, I just want to go home. I'm not leaving him Derek. I love him and he loves me."_

"_He loves you does he? Tell me Zoey, because I'm curious, how many times has he seen you in here? How many times has he called you to see how you were doing? Zoey he didn't even know you were in here and you've been admitted for the past two weeks! And you really think he cares about you?"_

Zoey stopped outside the door before putting the key in the lock. She was terrified of what the place will look like or what kind of mood he was in. Derek was right, he didn't have a clue he had put her in hospital. He had stormed out before she called Derek to let him know she was coming in. She held her breath as she put her key in the lock and turned it. She walked in and saw darkness. She flicked the light switch on so she could see where she was going. She walked in to the lounge and saw nothing but a clean and tidy room. There were no beer cans on the floor, no papers everywhere and no bills left on the table for her to pay - the carpet had even been cleaned. "I must be in the wrong apartment." Zoey said out loud, astonished at what she had come home to. She heard a key in the door and Justin walked in with bags full of, from what she could see, groceries.

Justin dropped the bags on the floor and flung himself at her. "Where have you been? I thought you left me! I'm so sorry babe, I won't hurt you ever again I promise. I've stopped drinking, look, I even tidied the place up."

Zoey just looked at him, stunned at what he just said. "Did you actually ask me where I've been? I was in hospital Justin. I was there for two weeks. You put me there." She told him, putting extra emphasis on the last sentence.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought it would have been pretty obvious – you beat me up really badly."

"I'm so sorry. I love you so much. I promise you I'm a changed man; I haven't had a drop of alcohol since you left. Honest."

Zoey looked at him and saw the sincerity in his face and heard it in his voice. "I believe you."

"Really?"

Zoey smiled at him. "I love you too." She told him and wrapped her arms round his neck and kissed him on his lips. "Come on, we've got a lot of making up to do." She whispered in his ear. They both laughed together as they made their way to the bedroom, where they had the best make up sex either of them had for a while.

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Mark looked in the empty room that had been occupied by Zoey. She had gone. He lost the chance to make things right. He turned away from the room and saw Lexie without her usual bright smile plastered over her face. He knew he had neglected her over the past couple of weeks since Zoey had re-entered his life but now she was gone, he knew he had a lot to make up for. He knew that he had to forget about Zoey and concentrate on his relationship with Lexie. He knew that there was only one thing he could do to put things right. "Dr – Lexie, could you come here please?" He called over to her. Lexie was shocked that he had used her first name but walked over to him all the same.

"Yes Dr. Sloan. Is there anything I can do for you?" She asked him.

"Lexie cut the Dr. Sloan crap will you." And without saying another word, he grabbed her face and kissed her passionately on her lips in the middle of the surgical floor. Everyone who was passing stopped what they were doing and stared. The nurses gasped and the interns' jaws just fell to the floor. Mark was the one who broke the kiss and whispered in her ear, "Please accept my apology for neglecting you."

Lexie smile grew even more if that was at all possible. "I accept your apology Mark."

"I'm going to make thing right with you Lexie. We are going to do this properly and screw everyone else if they don't like it."

Lexie had the biggest smile on her face as he said that. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely." He answered and leaned in to give her another long lingering passionate kiss. He looked up and saw Derek standing there and he did not look happy. Mark quickly told Lexie to meet him in at his hotel room at the Archfield after her shift. He kissed her again as she skipped off to continue with the post-op charts she was working on for Christina Yang. Mark watched her go before coming head to head with Derek. "Listen before you say anything _I'm seeing Lexie. I'm sleeping with her. I'm seeing Lexie and I'm sleeping with her._"

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Zoey got out of bed a couple of hours later. She and Justin had fallen asleep and she thought it was best not to wake him up. She went in to the bathroom and splashed her face with cold water. Looking in the mirror she realised that no one could tell she had been in hospital as her face looked perfect. She ran her fingers down the side of her jaw as she thought of the amazingly perfectly hot doctor who had fixed it. She thought back to the last conversation the pair of them had and her eyes started to water. What she felt when she was with Mark; she didn't feel with Justin or anyone else. Despite the five-year gap, when she first saw him, all the feelings came back – something she never thought was possible. She had always assumed that when she had left for Seattle she left all her feelings for Mark behind. "Life's a bitch." She said to herself.

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Derek said nothing. He just looked at Mark and swung his fist back and then towards his face and knocked Mark back with shock. "_Okay, maybe I deserve that_." WACK! Derek's fist went in to Mark's face again. "_Actually no, I didn't deserve that_." and before he could punch him again, Mark punched him right back and before anyone who had stopped to whiteness the attack, a fight had brawled out between the two attendings.


	11. Chapter 11

Derek and Mark sat in the chief's office. Richard Webber had been called out so he had left the two men alone as long as they promised they would behave themselves, which they did. The pair of them sat in silence, with ice packs on their hands; their cuts and bruises had already been seen to.

"I'm sorry." Derek breathed out, breaking the silence.

Mark looked up at him surprised. They had fought before but neither ego had ever apologised to each other. They would usually have stropped for a little bit and then just carry on like nothing happened. In fact, the only time either them really apologised was when Derek found out about him and Addison. "You are?"

Derek nodded. "I shouldn't have hit you."

"Well you're still talking to me, in my opinion, you took it a lot better than I thought." Mark said, smiling slightly.

"Took what better than I thought? Why wouldn't I talk to you? You didn't call me a murder." Derek muttered.

"What? Who called you a murder?"

"I lost a patient today."

"The pregnant one? Derek, with all due respect, we lose a lot of patients on the table, it happens. Was the baby okay?"

Derek nodded. "Dr. Davis did an emergency C-Section so at least one of them could live. Her husband got hysterical when we told him and he called me a murderer. It got to me Mark. I may have got too close to that patient but I did everything I could possibly do to save her but I couldn't save her. I promised her, him, I promised them both, that she would be okay, that she would make it."

"That doesn't make you a murderer, it makes you a neurosurgeon. You're a human doctor who can't perform miracles no matter how much you say otherwise."

Derek smiled slightly. "I think you're the one who thinks he can perform miracles."

"Ah see, that's where you're mistaken, I can perform miracles."

Derek eventually let out a laugh. "In your dreams man."

They both fell silent for a minute or two before Mark piped up. "Did that sound a bit gay to you?"

"No…"

"Dude, it sounded a little gay."

Derek just shook his head and laughed at him before remembering what Mark had said in answer to his apology. "Oh yeah, why did you think you deserved being punched in the face?"

Mark looked at him guiltily. "Erm, maybe because I told you I'm seeing Lexie. Don't look at me like that, you saw it with your own eyes." He commented when Derek's head shot up.

"Oh, you are?"

"Yeah. I told you and you swung your fist at me so I put 2 and 2 together and clearly got 5."

Derek laughed. "I'm not going to lie, I'm a little pissed but that's not why I swung at you. I didn't mean for that to happen, I just kind of lost control."

"Forget about it. I understand." Mark sympathized. "I know you told me to stay away from her and I tried honestly. She came to my hotel room and said "teach me" and started taking her clothes off and although a part of me wanted her, the other part was telling me to tell her to go – Derek why are you smiling at me? You're meant to be pissed."

Derek had a massive smile on his face and was laughing at the his friend ramble on. "How long have you been keeping this from me?"

Mark shrugged. "Too long. Lexie kept telling me to tell you but I just thought you'd, well, do this -" he pointing to the cuts on his face "-again. This must be the third time you punched me and always over a girl."

Derek laughed. "That's true, first Addison, then Meredith and now Lexie. Well to be honest I wouldn't have punched you over Lexie."

"You wouldn't?"

Derek shook his head. "No. Like I said, I'm a little pissed but only cause Meredith is not going to be happy about it and she's going to take it out on me. Listen as far as I'm concerned, you guys are two consenting adults who can do what you like – or who you like." He teased.

Mark laughed. "Thanks."

"I saw that kiss, hell, you've made a few nurses quite their jobs and there are a few jaws that had been dislocated from the shock but nothing that can't be fixed."

Mark laughed in agreement then a comfortable silence fell. Derek looked over at his friend who looked content with himself for the first time in a while. His thoughts wondered over to Zoey as she was the one person he wanted to talk to about everything that had happened that day. Mark glanced over and noticed that he suddenly seemed a bit down. "Everything okay?" he asked.

Derek was about to tell him but stopped himself and wondered if it was the right time to mention Zoey. "Yeah everything's fine."

Mark gave him a look that said I don't believe you. "Yeah okay." He said sarcastically. "I know you Derek. What's up?"

Derek sighed. "I miss Zoey. I know she's probably the last person you want to talk about but I miss seeing her everyday and I miss being able to talk to her every day."

"You can still talk to her. She hasn't left Seattle you know, just the hospital. There's such thing as the telephone - great invention."

"Not quite the same thing as seeing her here in the hospital and being able to talk to her whenever."

Mark nodded but stayed silent. Since the whole going public thing with Lexie he hadn't thought about Zoey. It was the first time in a long time. His faced suddenly dropped when he remembered the look in her eyes when she told him what she thought of him. They were full of pain, hurt and worst of all, hate. "Yeah, well, I'm going to be honest, I miss her too, always have, just for a completely different reason. I never told you this but the day she told me how old she really was, I was going to tell her I loved her. She's the first and only girl I have ever loved."

"Oh really? What about Lexie?"

Mark sighed. "I care about Lexie a lot and until Zoey came back, I thought I did love her. I suppose I just forgot what it meant to actually fall in love with someone until I saw Zoey again. What I feel for Lexie isn't far off to what I felt for Zoey it's just … I don't know, they're two completely different people."

Derek nodded. "What you felt for Zoey was stronger than what you feel for Lexie."

"Yeah, I suppose you could say that. I mean, I had to sneak around with Lexie a lot because I was frightened of upsetting someone like you or Meredith, no matter how much it was upsetting Lexie for not telling you guys. Even when I thought Zoey was 21, I was more than happy to be with her knowing there was a 12-year age gap. Do you know what scares me? Even when I found out she was 17 I didn't care and that were a 15-year age gap."

"What are you getting at? Why are you comparing the age gap with upsetting me and Meredith?" Derek asked, wondered how long he had been bottling all this up for.

"People would have probably frowned upon the age gap and it would probably cause a lot of trouble for Zoey, especially from the likes of her parents or friends but I would have done anything in my power to make sure that wouldn't happen. I didn't tell you about Lexie because I was afraid of how you might react and despite it upsetting Lexie, I still didn't tell you. What I'm trying to say is that when I was with Zoey, I was a stronger person." Mark stopped to catch his breath. He couldn't believe he was admitting all this. He didn't even know he felt like that until he said it. "I want to be that person again but I want to know if it's only Zoey who makes me that person."

"You need to find that out before you hurt Lexie. Going public now really wasn't the best idea was it?"

"I only did that to make Lexie happy. She looked so sad and a feeling just washed over me and I had to do something to make it right."

"So you decided to go public despite realising you may have found some feelings for another girl?"

"Shit! I did do that didn't I!"

Derek laughed. "Yep you did."

Mark looked up at him. "This isn't funny." He then sighed. "What does it matter? Zoey doesn't want anything to do with me anyway."

"You don't know that. Have you even tried talking to her about all this?"

"I do know that Derek. Do you know what she said to me before she got discharged from here? She said and I quote _you're nothing but a womaniser who thinks with his dick rather than his brain. You're a man-whore who will stick it anywhere regardless of who he might hurt_."

"Wow, she got you spot on." He said before seeing the look on Mark's face – devastation. "Well that answers my question."

"What question?"

"Are you over Zoey?"

Mark said nothing, confirming Derek's question.

"You need to sort that out. I love Zoey and I would like nothing more than for the two of you to get back together but Lexie doesn't deserve that."

"Yeah I know. Oh and don't think I didn't hear that comment you made before."

"What comment?"

"You said she got me spot on. Derek she didn't. I'll admit that's who I was but I'm not that person anymore. I suppose you could say otherwise due to sleeping with Callie in On-Call rooms, not to mention every female nurse on the floor, but since I've been with Lexie, I haven't so much as looked at another girl in the same way, as I would have normally. The thing is, I want Zoey to see that I'm not that man who left her sobbing in the middle of a restaurant anymore. I want her to see that I use my brain before my dick. I don't want her to hate me like she does and I don't want her to look at me in that way again. I don't neccessarily want to get back together with her, I don't expect to get back together with her. I just want her to see that I'm a changed man."

Derek nodded. "Show her then." He said simply.


	12. Chapter 12

A month had passed after Zoey had made up with Justin. However, despite his promise to change his ways, he didn't. Within two weeks of making the promise, he was back to his old ways and had started to hit Zoey again; only this time he made sure he didn't put her in hospital again; this time he only left the odd couple of bruises on her arms and stomach. Zoey had remembered what Derek had said and refused to prove him right. So when she walked in to Seattle Grace Hospital on a Saturday morning, she hurried off to the day-care centre to avoid bumping in to a certain attending with nice hair and a dreamy smile. As well as him, she didn't want any to run in to Mark Sloan either. Despite her best efforts to forget about him, he kept popping in to her head at the most inappropriate times, usually just when she's looking in the mirror but the worst time was just after having sex with Justin. She kept thinking about what he had confessed to her the last time she had spoken to him and how harsh she was, despite it being how she felt. She could always tell him what she felt no matter how horrible it was. There was something about him that allowed her to be so honest. Closing her eyes and shaking her head, she cleared her thoughts of Mark Sloan and continued over to her place of work. However, once she was there, she knew that seeing the children playing, she couldn't help but think of her and Mark.

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Derek entered Mark's office without knocking. He was sitting at his desk leaning on his elbow on the desk and tapping his front teeth, clearly in a trance.

"A penny for your thoughts." Derek said, making Mark look up at him.

"Man, I spent the entire evening yesterday with Lexie which was amazing and I didn't think of anyone but her. But when she left all I could think about was Zoey. I was up wondering where I could find her and despite my best efforts, I do not have the slightest clue where she might be."

"Which she is this? Zoey or Lexie?"

"Take a wild guess. If I want Lexie, she's a phone call away, I have no contact details for Zoey."

"Ah how I wish I was you right now." Derek smirked.

"It's not funny Derek, I'm in a real predicament here!"

"Oh yes because you're the first and only man to _ever_ crush on two people at the same time." Derek said sarcastically.

"If you're not going to help you can leave me alone now."

"Sorry." Derek said, trying not to laugh. "Course I'm here to help. So, you want to get hold of Zoey? Well you know her contact details are on her chart; if you're that desperate you could look at her charts and take a copy."

Mark's face lit up. "Of course! Why didn't I think of that before?"

"Because that's unethical and you know it."

Mark's face fell. "Well do you have a better idea?"

"Yes actually, you could try the day-care centre downstairs where she works part time. It's 30 minutes after 10 so she should be there already."

"Wait what? Zoey works downstairs at the day-care centre? Why the fuck didn't you tell me that before?" Mark shouted and leaped up from his chair, rushing out his office and running straight in to Lexie Grey, making him stop right in his tracks. "Oh hey." Mark said quietly, trying to show the annoyance in his face.

"Hey yourself. So I was thinking … maybe we could have a repeat of last night in say five minutes?" Lexie spoke quietly and seductively.

Mark's thoughts about Zoey had completely vanished from his head and all he could think about is Lexie purring with pleasure in his ear. Mark grinned. "I'll be there. Meet me in the On-Call room in two minutes."

Derek shook his head from inside Mark's office. Despite their best efforts, he could still hear what they were saying. He laughed quietly to himself because he knew Mark wouldn't be able to resist an offer like that.

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Zoey glanced at the clock. It was 12.30 and was still struggling putting one of the babies to sleep. She had been trying for the past hour and was quite frankly getting bored and restless herself. Mrs. Smyth had noticed she was struggling and let her go off to lunch. Thanking her, Zoey picked up her bag and turned to leave. As she did so she looked right in the eye of Mark. "Don't tell me … you actually knocked a nurse up and one of these kids actually belong to you." Zoey stated, sarcastically. "That must be the only reason why you're down here."

"You see any kids this good looking down here?" Mark smirked at her.

"I see your ego is still as big as it was when I saw it squeeze through the restaurant door all those years ago."

"Oh ouch. That hurt a little." Mark said in a sarcastic tone.

"What do you want Mark?"

"Lunch."

"So you can walk out on me again?"

"Okay, bad choice. Look I just want to chat okay? I want to put things right."

Zoey gave him a disbelieving look. "I don't think so."

"Come on Zoey, I never come down here. That's gotta mean something."

"Yeah, that you don't have kids, why else would you come down here?"

"Exactly." Mark said, flashing his mcsteamy smile.

Zoey shook her head and smiled. She could never resist that smile and boy did he know it. "You haven't changed." She paused for a couple of seconds before continuing. "Okay, I'm free now. Not for too long though."

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Zoey's sides ached from laughing so much just like they had done before. She and Mark were sitting in the middle of the hospital cafeteria with nurses, doctors and visitors staring at them but neither noticed nor cared. Zoey couldn't remember the last time she laughed that much with anyone. Yes of course she had a giggle with her friends from college and she and Justin had a few laughs but it was nothing like this – sides splitting and stomach aching. She didn't realise just how much she missed that until just then with Mark.

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Mark loved watching Zoey laugh. She was adorable with her crinkled nose and her laugh was just loud and you could always tell she was having a good time and it was so infectious. When Zoey laughed, you couldn't help but laugh along with her. He couldn't remember the last time he had a proper laugh like this with anyone. Yeah he had a few laughs with Derek and Lexie but it was nothing like this. This was so natural, he could just sit there laughing and joking around with Zoey for days. He didn't realise how much he had missed that until just now with Zoey.

When the two of them had calmed down Mark sat back and looked in to Zoey's eyes and he knew that something was bothering her.

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Zoey looked over at Mark and couldn't believe how relaxed she felt with him. After having to step around the eggshells at home with Justin, she forgot what it felt like to actually relax around someone and it felt amazing. She could properly be herself without the fear of being hit. She regrettably thought back to two nights ago when Justin came home after he had gone to a couple of bars for his friends 30th birthday. He wasn't totally smashed when he came home but he wasn't far off but like an idiot she had chosen that particular moment to have a go at him about the fact that he hadn't changed like he promised her. Instead of them having a row like most couples, he had slapped her across her face and he punched her stomach. It wasn't as hard as it had been in the past but hard enough to leave a mark and bring tears to her eyes. Thinking about it now, she knew she can't stay with him but she didn't know how to leave him. She looked over at Mark who now had a worried look on his face, which indicated to her that she must have looked upset.

"Is everything okay?" Mark asked her.

Zoey nodded. What could she say? My boyfriend beats me up when he's had a one too many to drink? It may have been five years since they last saw each other but Zoey still knew Mark and knew that he wouldn't stand for anyone laying so much as a finger on her, on anybody. She still remembered what happened the last time someone threatened to hurt her.

_Zoey stood outside a bar waiting for Mark to find his wallet. She had only been standing there for a minute or two when a couple of men approached her and tried to come on to her. Zoey said no and tried to push them off but they only came on to her even more, intimidating her that bit more every time she had said no. Zoey was terrified – she had no cell phone to call Mark to get help. The bouncers had gone inside as it was 3 in the morning and they knew that no' one was going to turn up at that time. Even if she did it wouldn't be any use as Mark wouldn't be able to hear his phone ring over the music that was playing inside. As the two men got closer and closer to her, Zoey shut her eyes, petrified of what might happen to her. She squeezed her eyes tight when she heard a loud thud right in front of her. She screamed as she flinched, thinking that one of the men had hit her. However, when she opened her eyes slightly, she saw one of the guys on the floor and Mark about to punch the other one. She just stood there stunned at the amazing timing her boyfriend had. She saw Mark's arm swing back and make a fast and loud contact with the guy's face who also fell to the ground. Mark walked over to Zoey. "Are you okay?" he asked her, moving a piece of hair out the way of her face.  
Zoey just nodded, as she was completely speechless. Mark kissed her lightly on the lips and the two of them walked back to Mark's apartment._

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Mark had noticed Zoey's face go from a frown to a smile. He wasn't sure what it was that had made her smile but he knew she was thinking about something. He could always tell when she was daydreaming about something; it was just the way she looked. "Are you going to tell me what's making you smile like that?" Mark asked.

"Maybe … remember when you beat those guys up to me who were threatening me outside the bar in New York?"

Mark grinned. Oh he remembered that night. He had just gone in to find his wallet came outside only to find two guys intimidating his girlfriend. His whole body filled with rage as he ran over and knocked the two of them out. "How could I forget? You did tend to attract trouble didn't you?"

Zoey grinned. "I still do." She said flirtatiously.


	13. Chapter 13

Mark was floating on air. His friendship with Zoey was back on track, he and Derek were even closer than before and he and Lexie were free to do what they liked and not in secret. So why did he still feel guilty? Derek was fine with the prospect of him and Lexie and Meredith, although a bit upset to begin with, only took a few days to get used to it and then was fine with them as a couple. With that in mind, he didn't understand as to why he felt guilty. It was late at night and had started to walk towards the exit when he had spotted Zoey lying on a row of chairs in the waiting area.

"What are you still doing here?" He asked her as he approached the seats she was lying on. His heart skipped a beat when he saw her eyes were closed. He smiled at how cute she looked when she was asleep. He remembered many mornings waking up and just watching her sleep next to him. She looked so peaceful he didn't want to wake her but he knew she couldn't stay there all night. He bent down so he was level with her face and stroked her cheek as a way of waking her up. As he did so, he saw the small shiner that was on the side of her cheek. He moved her hair out the way to get a better look at it. He frowned as he contemplated what could have caused it. He remembered Derek telling him it was her boyfriend who had put her in hospital, which made him wonder if he hit her again. It was only a small bruise on the side of her cheek but a bruise nonetheless – as far as Mark's concerned, no man should ever hit a woman. All thoughts left him when he saw Zoey's eyes flicker and a small smile creep on to her face as she saw who was waking her up. "Hey sleeping beauty, time to go home." He said softly.

"What time is it?" Zoey asked groggily.

"Quarter after eleven. Have long have you been sleeping here?"

"Since about five."

"Doesn't your shift finish at five?"

"Yeah, why?"

"No reason. Just … why didn't you go home? Surely your bed's more comfortable than these chairs..."

"I was waiting for Derek to finish and I fell asleep." Zoey lied.

"Does Derek know that?"

"Yeah, course he does."

"Really? Is that why his shift finished at eight and he didn't mention anything all day to me about seeing you?"

Zoey said nothing. "He must have forgotten." She said eventually, not looking Mark in the eye.

"Right." He sighed. "Come on, I'll give you a lift home."

"No don't worry about it, I've got my car in the car park."

"Yeah well you shouldn't drive when you're tired. Leave the car here and you can pick it up in the morning."

"How?"

"I'll pick you up in the morning."

"I'm at college tomorrow morning."

"What's your point? I'll pick you up, take you here to pick your car up and then you can go off to college."

Zoey thought about it. It did make sense … well sort of. She was very tired and couldn't really be bothered to drive. "Alright then but only if I can control the radio." Zoey grinned. She knew he hated it when she used to control the radio, usually because he hated the stations she made him endure.

Mark sighed. "If it makes you happy."

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It was silent in the car. Zoey couldn't find a radio station she liked so she turned it off. The two of the chatted for a bit but it soon turned to silence as Zoey's eyes started to droop.

"Hey Zo, you can't fall asleep, I have no idea where I'm going. Do I go left or right here?"

"Oh erm, left – no right. No left definitely left."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep. 100%."

"Oh no wait, it was right." Zoey said as Mark indicated and turned left.

"What?!"

"Only joking." She smirked.

"You really are annoying, you know that?" Mark joked.

"I do try." She said laughing.

The pair of them soon fell silent again. Mark looked over at her as she rested her head on the door. He noticed the bruise on her cheek and wondered how it had got there. "Hey Zoey, I couldn't help but notice that bruise on your cheek. How did you get that?"

"What? Oh that. I erm, fell and banged my face on the radiator."

"On the radiator?" Radiator my ass, Mark thought to himself. No one bangs their cheek on the radiator and even if they do, they don't get a mark like that.

"Yes on the radiator."

"Okay. So why were you sleeping in the waiting area?"

"I told you, I was waiting for Derek."

"I don't believe you." Mark said bluntly. "I know it's not the first time you've done that. Whenever you're working at the day care centre, you don't leave until very late. Your shift is 9 'til 5, why don't you go home?"

"Maybe I don't want to go home." Zoey mumbled.

"What did you say?"

"I said … it's just …" She sighed. "I don't always want to go home."

"Why not?"

She shrugged. "I don't always like it."

"You don't always like it? What's that meant to mean?" Mark asked her, knowing full well what that meant. Zoey looked away from Mark and out the window. "Zoey, why don't you like going home?" he asked. When he got no response he pulled the car over and stopped. "Zoey, look at me. Why don't you like going home?" He undid his seat belt and made Zoey turn her head to face him. As Zoey turned her head, a tear had escaped from her eye. "Hey, come on. What's going on? Zoey you can tell me. Whatever it is, I might be able to help but only if you tell me."

"I didn't fall. There was no radiator. There was no mugging." Zoey said quietly as another tear fell from her cheek, which she wiped away quickly. "He drinks a lot."

"Your boyfriend?"

Zoey nodded. "He gets aggressive when he drinks. He doesn't mean it, it's just the drink talking."

"Zoey did he do this to you?" Mark asked, referring to the black and blue mark on her face.

Zoey nodded again. "That's why I stay at the hospital as late as I can. I don't know what I might go home to." Her voice started to quiver as she let more tears fall only this time she didn't wipe them away. She just sat there looking at Mark letting them fall past her chin and drip on her hand, arm and car seat. Just watching the tears fall, her voice quiver and listening to what she was saying broke his heart in two. He wiped her tears away with his thumb and said nothing. If there was any chance of showing her he was a changed man, this was the time, only he didn't have a clue what to say. He figured he would just sit there and listen to what she had to say. Let her get out all these feelings. He wondered whom else she had said this to. Had she told Derek? He hadn't said anything to him but she might have told him not to remain quiet and not tell Mark. "Does Derek know about this?" he might as well ask the question.

"He knows I get hit a lot but he doesn't know just how scared I am to go home." Her voice shook even more with each word and Mark hated it. He hated the fact that she's so scared of going home. Home should be a safe place, the one place you shouldn't feel scared. He couldn't take any longer. He unbuckled Zoey's seat belt and pulled her on to his lap where she cuddled in to him and as she sobbed on to his favourite Armani shirt and he found that his feelings for this young woman had developed in to something a lot deeper than he thought. _I am so screwed_, he thought to himself. He rubbed her back in circles as she calmed down and stopped crying. "I'm not taking you home. No way. You're coming back with me. I'm not letting you go back there tonight not when that bastard is capable of anything. He put you in hospital before; I'm not going to let him do it again. Don't worry, you can have the bed, I'll sleep on the couch." He added when her head shot up at him.

"You live in a hotel room." Zoey sniffed.

"Yes but only the best hotel room the Archfield could offer."

"What about Lexie?"

"What about Lexie?" Mark asked, putting extra emphasis on the word about.

"She is your girlfriend. Don't you think she'll mind if I stay at your hotel room?"

Mark's face dropped hearing it from Zoey. Lexie's his girlfriend and now everyone knows it, even Zoey knows it. "I'm sure she'd understand." He told her.

Zoey smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek before crawling back to the front passenger seat. This took Mark back a bit. "What was that for?" he asked.

"Just … thank you."

They locked eyes with each other for what seemed like an eternity. Just as Mark felt himself about to lean in, he felt himself say something he never in his wildest dreams thought he'd say:

"Let's get going, it's been a long day for both of us."

_I am so so __screwed._ He said to himself as they drove off in the direction of the Archfield.

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Once inside Mark's hotel room, Zoey was tucked up in his bed and didn't take long before she started to doze off. Mark sat on the other side of the bed and sighed before getting up to move to the couch.

"Stay with me." He heard Zoey mumble in her sleep. "What was that?" he asked, thinking he might have imagined it.

"Don't leave me alone Mark." She said sleepily and attempted to pull the duvet back with all the energy she could master, which as she was so tired, wasn't very much.

"I will never leave you." Mark reassured her. _I am so so so screwed_. He thought to himself as he stripped down to his boxers and climbed in to the bed where he had the best nights sleep he had had in ages.


	14. Chapter 14

Zoey awoke the next morning remembering the events that took place the night before and felt her cheeks blush with embarrassment. She rolled over and saw Mark Sloan lying on his side watching her. "Morning." He greeted her.

"Please tell me you wasn't just watching me sleep?" She asked him

"Would I do that?" Mark grinned at her.

Zoey just laughed while glancing at the time. "Geez, is that the time?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Why didn't you wake me up earlier? Don't you have to be in at some ridiculous hour?"

"Eight o' clock is not a ridiculous hour."

"It is for me! I'm always grateful to start college at 10 every day."

"Ah, but you have to get up at eight and don't you start work at that time on the weekends?"

"Actually I start work at 9." Zoey said sticking her tongue out. "but I don't have to get up earlier than that unlike you who starts at eight and has to get up even earlier." Zoey informed him, nodding manically at him.

"Well that's told me. Anyway, to answer your question, I told the hosptial to move any surgeries to the afternoon."

"Can you actually do that?"

"Zoey, what you don't realise is that I am a God in that hospital and what I say goes. Okay, I said I had a meeting with my bank manager." He added when he saw Zoey give him a disbelieving look.

Zoey laughed and all thoughts from the night before had disappeared. "Okay, well unlike you, I can't pick and choose when I can go to my classes so do you think you could get me to my car in half an hour?"

"That depends, do you think you could be ready in 20 minutes?"

"It doesn't take 10 minutes to drive to the hospital."

"Oh trust me, it will."

Zoey rolled her eyes and refused to get in to that argument. She knew better than to argue with Mark about the ETA. "Fine, just let me jump in the shower." She said, throwing back the duvet and getting out of bed. She turned round to face Mark. "You got any fresh towels in there?" She asked, pointing her thumb to the bathroom door.

Mark stared at the site before him and could feel the beginings of a semi starting to arise. Zoey was standing by his bed wearing nothing but a pastel pink bra with white hearts on and matching briefs. Her long curls fell behind her shoulders with a few strands of hair were standing up on end and she had the perfect cleavage. "Er, yeah, I-I think so."

"Ok thanks." she said nonchalantly, well aware of the effect she had on him. She walked towards to bathroom, swaying her hips flipping her hair back with great emphasis, as she knew he would be watching her.

Mark started to laugh as she did so. He knew she knew the effect that had on him and he also knew what a tease she was. "You keep doing that and I'm going to need that cold shower." He told her half joking, half sincere. "You're doing that on purpose Zo." He said to her as she continued to wriggle her hips in a joking way, in to the bathroom. He heard her laugh before popping her head round the door.  
"Gee you think? Honestly, if you had more self control then I wouldn't have to do that." she teased, sticking her tongue out slightly before going back in to the bathroom, leaving the door ajar.  
_Do I go in there? Do I stay out here?_ Mark battled with himself. He heard the water from shower run and the sound of the shower door close. Mark sat at the end of his bed and rubbed his face with his hands. His incredibly sexy ex-girlfriend was naked in his shower and there he was sitting on his bed in nothing but his boxers. He got up and was about to go in to join her when he stopped himself. No, that's what the old Mark would do. The new and improved Mark will stay out of there, get dressed and forget about the naked body using his shower. As he pulled his jeans on and was fishing through a pile of t-shirts in his drawer, he heard Zoey call out from the bathroom.

"Hey Mark, what shampoo can I use?"

_She's washing her hair? My sexy ex-girlfriend with the incredible ass is washing her hair? Oh man I am screwed!_ "D-do you have to do that-?" He called back to her. _In my shower?_ He added in his head.

"Mark which bottle can I use?" Zoey called back to him, clearly not hearing what he said.

Mark walked over to the door but didn't enter the bathroom. "You can't. They are very special bottles of shampoo." He teased.

"Aw Mark don't be so mean – you always let me borrow your shampoo."

Mark grinned. "Use the round white bottle."

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Zoey picked the bottle up, squeezed some of the liquid out and rubbed in to her hair, making it foam. She rinsed her hair off before wiping away the condensation that had appeared on the shower door to peer out to see where he was. "Where are you?"

"I'm out here." she heard Mark say from outside the bathroom door.

Zoey felt a pang of disappointment. He always used to stay in the bathroom when she was showering at his. It was then that she remembered he had a girlfriend and whatever was going on between them that morning needed to stop. She turned the shower off and grabbed a towel. She wrapped it round her and walked out the bathroom where Mark was standing in just his jeans and rifling through his t-shirt drawer. "No clean t-shirts?"

"No, I'm just looking for a specific-" Mark started but could finish because he had glanced up and saw Zoey wrapped up in just a towel. She was standing before him, with her head cocked to the right, letting her dangle in front of her so she could towel dry it. She had never looked so sexy. Mark felt his jeans tighten so he quickly averted his eyes and continued to search for his t-shirt. Even when he had found it, he continued to search for it, waiting for the stubborn bulge to go away, which didn't go unnoticed by Zoey who giggled a little at his awkward situation. She went to pick her underwear up from the bathroom floor before sitting down on the bed to put them back on. Once her briefs were on she was wondering how she should put her bra on. She was never any good at putting it on normally; she usually had to put it on backwards and then swivel it round to the right way. She wanted to run in to the bathroom but didn't want to look like a weirdo who can't put a bra on properly. She stood up and put her back to Mark and placed the bra over her towel.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Mark had finally stood up and put his black t-shirt on. "Hey are you ready to go yet?" he asked Zoey. He turned round only to see she had turned her back to him and had started jumping up and down, trying to do up the clasp of her bra. He couldn't help but laugh at her.

"Mark, you better not be laughing at me!" Zoey exclaimed.

"What if I am?" Mark said, laughing even more. "Aw you look so cute jumping up and down like that. Still can't do your bra up the proper way?"

"Shut up!" Zoey whined.

Mark stopped laughing but was chuckling a little bit. "Okay, I'm sorry, do you want some help?" He approached her as Zoey nodded. _This is okay; I'm only doing her bra up. I just saw her in her underwear about 10 minutes ago. I can handle this._ His heart pounded as he reached round for each strap and put them together again. He put his hands on her shoulders and moved them slowly down her back.

Zoey's heart pounded as she felt the straps being tugged gently and being done up. She shivered slightly as she felt his hands on her back, which lingered there a little longer than they should have. All she wanted to do was rip her towel away, throw him on the bed and jump on top of him. As she felt his hands leave her back, she felt a hint of disappointment. "Thanks." she said quietly, turning round to face him.

"You're welcome." Mark whispered. A silence fell as they stood there just looking at each other and all he wanted to do was grab her and kiss her until all the breath he had was gone. _Say something, this is getting awkward._ "You know what your problem is? This towel was in the way! If you didn't have the towel attached I bet you could have done it yourself." He told her grinning, which got him a shove on to the bed.

"Shut up!" She laughed. "It's not like before you know. I can't just take my towel off in front of you – you have a girlfriend remember and unfortunately I'm not her so that couldn't happen."

_Yeah, but I wish I didn't …did she just say unfortunately?_ "Hey, how did you know I have a girlfriend?" Mark asked her.

Zoey sighed. "Mark, I know I work in the Day Care Centre but it is still part of the hospital – nurses talk."

Mark saw the look on Zoey's face. If he didn't know any better, he would say that it was almost disappointment. "Oh right. Well it's nothing serious."

"Nothing serious? Mark you kissed her in front of everyone for the first time after hiding the relationship for so long."

"How did you know I was hiding the relationship?" _Where was she getting all this from? _He hated himself. He hated himself because firstly, he cared about Lexie a lot, you could almost call it love, but here he was in his hotel room with his ex-girlfriend, the one woman he cares for the most. Secondly, he hated himself because he had actually let this girl go and now he didn't know what was going on. There was still this amazing chemistry between Zoey and himself, something he felt he didn't have with Lexie.

"Lexie told me when she was one of my doctors."

"Oh that's when you told her what happened between you and me."

"Yeah."

"I can't believe you told her that. You know she was devastated and thought I would do the same to her."

"Would you?"

"Of course not! I can't believe you would even ask me that!"

"Chill out! Look, she was asking me questions about how I knew you so I told her and that's when I realised that there was something going on with you and her and when I asked the question, she told me. It's nothing to be ashamed of you know. It's fine now … you're official …you've gone public now …no need to hide anymore …" Zoey said with a hint of sadness in her voice at the last sentence.

The two of them looked at each other, neither unsure of what to say. Mark cleared his voice. "You had better get dressed if you want to get to college on time."

…………………………………………………………………………………………

An hour later, Mark was lying in an On-Call room trying to clear his head. The drive with Zoey over to the hospital was a quiet one. Neither of them had said very much since Zoey's revelation that she knew he and Lexie were an official public couple. He kept thinking what she meant when she said unfortunately she wasn't his girlfriend. Did she mean she wished she was his girlfriend? Or something entirely different, perhaps even as an insult in some strange way. He had no idea how he was going to get through his surgeries when all his thoughts were consumed with Zoey Heart.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: ****Did anyone else just sob at episode 18 of grey's? I just couldn't stop crying through the whole episode lol**

**This chapter contains sexual abuse – you have been warned. **

**This is a really short chapter but it needed to be one in its own.  
**

Zoey walked in to her apartment. She decided to go home quickly get changed before going off to college as going in wearing the same creased clothes she was wearing the day before would probably look bad.

"Where the hell were you last night?" came a booming voice from the kitchen. Zoey walked in to find him calving a turkey. She stepped back a bit and lingered in the doorframe, knowing that a knife in Justin's hand could never lead to anything good.

"I stayed at a friend's last night."

"A friend's?" Justin repeated. "You couldn't have called me to tell me?"

"I assumed you would be out." Zoey said quietly. She hated it when he spoke to her like this. It made her feel like she was 16 again getting told off by her father for doing this exact thing.

"A phone call would still be nice. As it happened, I wasn't out. I was in all night waiting for you to come home. Your shift finished at five so _I_ assumed you would be home by 6. I had a whole evening planned for just the two of us and is this how you repay me? By not even coming home? Not even a phone call Zoey!" Justin exclaimed raising his voice.

"I'm sorry." Zoey mumbled. It was always better if she just apologised rather than try to fight back because she knew she would always come off a lot worse if she did try to argue her case.

"Whatever. My entire evening was ruined because of you. Some of the guys had invited me out but I said no because I was waiting for you. By the time I realised you weren't coming home, it was too late to go anywhere."

Zoey stood there and said nothing. She was getting more and more wary of the knife he was now flinging about in his hand to animate his words. Justin looked over at her and saw her standing there staring at him. "You not even going to say anything?" He snapped at her.

"I already told you I'm sorry, what more do you want?" she managed to get out, as she was blinking back the tears.

"Well an explanation would be nice. Yes I know you were at a friend's but which friend? Why didn't you call?"

"A friend from work …" Zoey started. It wasn't technically a lie seeing as she did meet Mark at her place of work. "You know what, I don't deserve this. I thought you would be out so I didn't want to disturb you. You would have got all pissy with me if I had disturbed you so it's a lose/lose situation." Zoey said finally able to find her voice.

Justin stopped what he was doing. He put the knife down and walked towards Zoey. "How DARE you talk to me like that!" as Justin got nearer to Zoey, she could smell the alcohol on his breath. She looked around the kitchen quickly and she spotted a couple of cans on the counter. She took a brief glance at the clock where she realised the time. It had only just gone eleven, how much had he had to drink? She should have guessed when he started having a go at her about where she was the night before. All of a sudden Justin grabbed her by each shoulder and shoved her against the wall next to the door. He placed one hand on the wall above her, grabbed her chin in his hand to make her look at him and got really close to her face.

"I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR LIES!" Justin screamed at her, making Zoey flinch.

"What lies?" she managed to squeak out.

"WHO WERE YOU WITH LAST NIGHT?!" Justin yelled in her face.

"A FRIEND!" Zoey shouted back, knowing she shouldn't have done so.

Justin let go of her face and stepped back a little. Stepping back in to her face, he said to her quietly but intimidating, "I'll teach you not to lie to me." He grabbed her by her hair and pushed her in to the lounge with Zoey whimpering, begging him to let go and to forgive him, although deep down she felt she had done nothing wrong. He bent her head back with such force Zoey screamed out in pain. He made her look at him before placing his lips on to hers. The kiss was nothing like it had been before – it was hard, demanding and lacked the passion that used to be there. Zoey looked at him terrified of the events that were most likely going to happen. When she entered the kitchen that morning as scared as she was to face her abusive boyfriend, she never expected her worst nightmare was going to become true. Justin pulled her down so she was lying on the floor and pulled her arms up above her head and held her small wrists in just one of his large hands. He lay on top of her as he started kissing her lips, chin and neck. Despite Zoey's begging for him to stop, he refused. He sat up still holding her arms above her head and moved his other hand down the front of her body slowly, before he took away all the life she had in her. As he entered her as roughly as he could, without even so much as any consideration, Zoey just lay there, taking everything he did with tears pouring down her cheeks and loud sobs sounded. Of all things she may have deserved, this she definitely did not.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: this chapter is a short one as well but the idea is to portray what happens to both Mark and Zoey after that morning - next chapter will be longer, promise :)**

Mark had been lying in the On-Call room for the best part of two hours. His pager had gone off five times, all of which he ignored. He heard the door open and a soft friendly voice called out in the darkness.

"Hey Mark are you in here?"

Mark wanted to ignore it but then told himself to stop being so stupid. "Yeah Lex, I'm here." He called back out. He heard to door shut and the sound of footsteps walk towards the bed where he was lying. His eyes wondered over to where the brunette had stopped walking. What he saw was picture perfect – Lexie Grey was wearing tight fitted light blue denim jeans with a black figure hugging long sleeved sweater. She had her hair down behind her shoulders and looked so gorgeous. Lexie bent down and kissed his forehead. "You look really down, is everything okay?" she asked him, clearly concerned.

Mark nodded. "Yeah, I've just been thinking about a lot of stuff."

"Anything in particular?"

Mark looked at her and shook his head. _What could I possibly say to you? I think I've fallen in love with my ex-girlfriend thus I regret going public with you?_ He thought to himself. He looked at her again and saw the concern in her face. He couldn't remember the last time anyone had given him that look, perhaps because he hadn't given anyone else reason to do so. Nevertheless he liked how worried she was or at least how worried she looked. "Hey don't worry about me. Have you just got here or on your way out?"

"On my way out. I've just finished my shift and I was told to look for you and get back to the chief as soon as I found you but I could take a little bit longer if you wanted me to." She smiled at him. "We don't have to do anything if you don't want to, we could just lie here together."

Mark smiled and moved up the bed to make room for her to join him before lying back down on his back. She bent down and their lips met. The kiss was soft and tender yet filled with passion, something he could never get enough of. However something was missing and he couldn't put his finger on it. Lexie had lain down next to him on her side and kissed him again to show him that whatever he was going through, she would always be there for him. She rested her head on his toned chest and placed her arm over his stomach, which was just as toned. Mark moved his arm over her shoulder and held her close to him. As he lay there playing with the ends of her hair, he thought back to the previous night where he had a completely different girl in his bed.

_Mark remained on his side of the bed like he promised, despite wanting to crawl over and hold her tight. He wanted to tell her that he would make everything better; that she should leave that bastard and they can run away together but he knew it wouldn't be appreciated seeing as they had a wall of pillows separating the two of them. He would probably find the situation hilarious if it was happening to anyone but him. On the other side of the bed was a girl who he was crazy about and yet couldn't touch her. He thought it was quite ironic that the person he wanted most didn't want him. He glanced over at the clock that read 03:00. He had to be up in 4 hours but he really didn't want to. He left the chief a message at the hospital asking him to move all his surgeries to after midday – there was no way he would be able to concentrate on anything on just a couple of hours sleep and that was if he was lucky. Looked over the wall of china, he saw Zoey sleep so peacefully and undisturbed. It was like she didn't have any problems at all. Looking over at her, his entire body filled with emotion. His heart felt like it was going to burst. He hated that man, if you can call him that, for hurting Zoey so much. He wondered how long it had gone on for. Derek told him she had been with him for just over two years, since she arrived in Seattle. Had it always been going on or was it a recent thing? He had no idea and didn't know how to address it with Zoey. He really wanted to talk to her about it but he knew it was a sensitive subject matter and knew it was going to take time. He was just getting her trust back so he was going to tread carefully to make sure it remained. He thought back to when she was on his lap, with his arms wrapped round her, protecting her. He remembered how perfect that had felt. He felt whole._

He looked down at Lexie who was falling asleep in his arms. He realised he didn't feel anything that was remotely close to what he felt when he saw Zoey sleeping. When Lexie came in to find him, he realised he was disappointed that it was Lexie. Looking down again, he realised he had the wrong girl in his arms.


	17. Chapter 17

Zoey lay as if she was paralysed. She lifted her head to see Justin leer his head towards her. She dropped her head back to the floor as if it gave her the protection she needed. He leaned in as close as he could possibly get and whispered in her ear, "I told you not to lie to me." He pulled away and sat on the couch, grabbing another can of beer on his way. Zoey continued to lie where she was, thoughts of what she had done to deserve everything that she had got started to consume her. She began to sit up and with shaky legs she stood up. She breathed in slowly and not letting the fear get to her she walked over to where Justin sat and closing her eyes, moving her arm back and swinging it forward, her hand hit the can out of his hand and on to the floor where all the liquid spilled out.

Justin looked from the can on the floor to Zoey standing there in front of him. "Did you seriously just do that?" Justin said in a monotone, staring at her.

"Well unless we have a poltergeist in the house…" she said clearly. She was fed up of being scared of him. It was about time she stood up for herself and did the one thing she needed to do for months – leave.

"Are you trying to be clever?" he said asked her, standing up trying to be intimidating.

"One of us has to be." Zoey said bravely. She stood there in front of him, not taking her eyes off him.

"Are you asking for a smack?" Justin threatened.

"Go on, do your worst. I don't know what else there is to do now. You've beaten me up black and blue, you put me in hospital not once, not twice, not three or four but five times. Oh and to top it off, you've just raped me. So if there's anything else you want to do go ahead."

Justin said nothing but started to walk towards her, taking large strides.

Instead of backing off, she stood her ground. "Go on Justin. Go on." Zoey goaded him. "You know what, I don't care what you do to me anymore because i know there are people out there who _do_ care about me and my well-being."

Justin stopped in front of her, swung his fist back forth, making contact with her face. Zoey blinked back the tears that threatened to escape from her eyes despite the stinging red mark that was now occupying her left cheek. She moved her hand up to it and felt a little bit of blood start to drip. Zoey looked Justin in the eye and laughed at him. "Is that all you got?" she saw the mad glint in his eye and she knew she was in for a lot more. She was glad though – she needed this to gain the strength to leave him for good. Justin turned round and Zoey could see his shoulders heave up and down. "I'm slightly disappointed. Do you really want to know where I was last night? I was with another man, in his bed, I used his shower this morning, I borrowed his shampoo. Do you know who that man was? He was my ex-boyfriend. The one who I fell in love with five years ago and who broke my heart. I didn't think it was possible to feel that sort of pain again but being here with you ... allowing myself to be put through so much misery ... sleeping in the hospital waiting area til early hours of the morning because I was scared to come home ... I would be more than willing to put myself through that heartache again. In fact, I would have run after him and made things right because that would mean never meeting you!" Zoey shouted at him. "If I could go back in time and make sure I never met you, it would be the best thing I could ever do."

That did it. Justin turned round, with fury brewing and with all his might; he grabbed Zoey by the hair and threw her against the wall, which she slammed her head in to and fell to the ground, knocking her out for a minute or two. When she came round she looked up and saw Justin standing there like a robot. He had just knocked her out and he just stood there, in the middle of the room, doing nothing about it. "It's over Justin." She managed to get out before she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer and her head fell back down again.

**A/N: I know I said this chapter was going to be longer but I felt this needed a chapter of its own. Let me know what you think – next chapter will be longer**


	18. Chapter 18

Mark paced along the lobby waiting for Lexie to come out of the ladies' restroom. When she did Mark pounced on her. It was now or never. "Hey Lexie, can we talk?" he called over to her.

"Erm, Mark as much as I love talking to you I really need to go, I'm so tired. Can we do this tomorrow?"

"It's important Lex."

"Okay, what is it?"

Mark opened his mouth but nothing came out. He hadn't thought this part through. What was he going to say to the girl? _Fuck_. "Erm, you see, it's not easy to-" Before he could continue his beeper beeped. "Shit. I gotta go but we'll continue this later okay?" he said before running off to trauma.

"Sure." Lexie answered before making her way to the exit very confused.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….....

"What's happened?" Mark asked Hunt breathlessly after running all the way there.

"22 year-old-female was found knocked out in her apartment." He told him.

"Why was I called?" Mark asked. "Surely it should be Derek?"

"He was, he told Grey to page you and he went running off looking for you."

Before Mark could ask why, Derek appeared. "Oh thank god! Mark, it's Zoey!"

"What do you mean it's Zoey?"

"She's the 22-year-old-female that was found knocked out in her apartment!"

"What! Where did she go? Derek, tell me where she went!" Mark yelled.

"Grey and Yang took her to ICU." Hunt told him before Derek could answer him. "You two had better get down there. She's going to need you to fix her face and check her brain for any damage."

Mark and Derek looked at each other before simultaneously sprinting down in the direction of ICU.

They reached Zoey's room in record time where she was wired up to different machines to help keep her alive, all of which were beeping. "Oh my god." Mark said, mainly to himself but he was loud enough for Derek to hear, who looked over at him and saw how worried and upset he was. "Grey what's the situation?" Mark asked Meredith.

"She's stable at the moment but we won't know anything until we get an MRI scan, which we can't get until she wakes up, which could be any time." She explained to him.

"She will wake up though right?" Mark asked her with hope in his voice, giving Meredith the impression that she wasn't just a patient to Mark. She looked over at Derek who looked just as pained and worried as Mark did.

"There's no reason to say she won't wake up." She smiled although she didn't really understand why both men would be so worried about a patient.

Derek noticed the confusion in her face so he said, "She's a very good friend of ours, Mer."

Meredith nodded, not quite sure whether to believe it. She left the room so the two of them to comfort each other and stay close to their very good friend.

"What the hell happened to her?" Mark had never seen anyone he was close to in a situation like this.

Derek shook his head, blinking back the tears. "I don't know. The ambulance paramedics said they got an anonymous call out. By the time they got to her apartment, the front door was left wide open and they found her lying there."

"She will wake up won't she? Derek please tell me she'll wake up!" Mark was never one to cry and show his emotions but no one would have known as tears started to stream from his eyes. Derek looked over at him as he saw Mark collapse on the floor, knees bent with his head leaning on his knees and his arms over his head. He walked over and sat beside him. "Hey Mark, listen. I don't think it would be a good idea for you to be involved in this surgery – you're too involved with her."

Mark looked up at his friend sitting next to him. "I'm the only one who can fix her face." He said, his voice almost inaudible.

"Seattle Grace has managed without you before, I'm sure they can do it again for just one patient."

"No. I don't trust anyone else to do a good enough job." He said, looking over at the golden beauty that lay silently attached to machines.

"If I'm honest Mark, I don't think I'm going to be involved myself. If she needs surgery, I don't want to do it myself. If anything were to happen …I don't think I could ever forgive myself."

Mark looked back at his friend. "But you never turn down a job."

"Well I'm turning down this one and I really recommend you do the same."

…………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Two hours had passed and Zoey still hadn't woken up. Derek had left as he had to check on other patients but Mark had stayed in the same place and had refused to move until she had opened her eyes. There was a knock on the door and a strange man walked in through the door and walked over to the bed.

"Can I help you with something?" Mark asked the man using his cold tone of voice. He stood up and walked towards him.

"Oh sorry I didn't see you there." He said to Mark as he spun round in shock. "I just-just came to see Zoey." His voice was shaky and his fingers kept twitching as if he wasn't supposed to be there.

"Who are you?"

"Justin." He replied. "Is she going to be okay?"

Mark's body filled with rage. _So this is the asshole who put her in here_. "She doesn't need visitors right now. Please leave."

"Who are you to say she doesn't need visitors? She needs familiar voices around her so she can wake up."

"I am her doctor. She will wake up in her own time, familiar voices around her will not help." Mark spoke as calmly and slowly as he possibly could, despite wanting to strangle the man.

Justin relaxed and stopped twitching his fingers - he couldn't be bothered to play the concerned boyfriend anymore. "And what a fine job you're doing – sitting there, on the floor," he said cockily observing his tear stained face. "Crying. Now could you please get me her real doctor?"

Mark clenched his fists in the pocket of his white coat. "I am her real doctor. I'm head of plastics."

"Right well when she wants a boob job I'll give you a ring. Get me a real doctor."

"You want a real doctor? Sure, I'll just page Dr. Shepherd, Head of Neurology – that's the brain in case you were wondering." Mark took his pager out and sent Derek a message telling him to get to ICU ASAP who arrived within minutes of receiving the page.

"What's happened? Did she wake up? Who's this guy?" Derek rambled on.

Ignoring Derek, Mark turned to Justin. "Could you follow me outside please?" and nodded to Derek to follow them. All three of them left Zoey's room and stood outside where Mark spoke up. "Dr. Shepherd, this is Justin. He wanted to talk to Zoey's real doctor." Derek and Mark looked at each other as if they were reading each other's mind.

"What can I do you for sir?" Derek asked Justin eventually.

"I just want to know if she's okay."

"In what relation are you to the patient sir?" Derek asked him, using all the power of authority he could master.

"I'm her boyfriend."

"Thanks that's all I needed to know." Derek said before swinging his arm back and forth making contact with his nose and sending him flying.

"Whoa! Nice!" Mark said laughing at the scene that had arisen before him. "Your hand okay?"

"No … but it was worth it." Derek said, clenching and stretching his hand in pain.

Justin, not one to give up so easily, stood up and went storming towards Derek. "What the fuck's your problem!" before he could get to Derek, Mark was ready and waiting and threw a punch which caught Justin off guard.

"I am suing this hospital!" he growled. This was heard by Richard Webber, the Chief of Surgery who just happened to walk by at that moment.

"What seems to be the problem? Sloan, Shepherd, why are you holding your fists like that?" he asked, noticing both Mark and Derek both clutching their hands in pain.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"I'm Dr. Webber, chief of surgery but if you want to continue this conversation I would appreciate some respect and none of that language." Richard said using the voice that always scared the interns. "Unless you want to be thrown out of this hospital." He added.

"Fine. All I wanted was some information about my girlfriend who was brought in earlier today. I asked him –" Justin said pointing to Derek. "And all the response I got was being punched in the face. Then the other one decided to join in."

Richard looked over at the two men, face of fury. "MY OFFICE NOW!" he barked at them.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Inside Richard was chewing off the two men's ears. "What were you thinking? What gave you the right to do that? You'll be lucky if he doesn't sue!"

"Chief you don't understand. That man should be no where near Zoey Heart." Mark started.

"And why not? He's her boyfriend; he deserves to be by her side. How would you like it if something had happened to Lexie and instead of getting information you just get sucker punched?" Mark slumped back in his chair and said nothing. "That's what I thought. And the same goes to you Derek."

"Chief, Zoey is a very close friend of mine, I was doing her a favour." Derek explained.

"How is punching her boyfriend in the middle of my hospital doing her a favour?" Richard demanded to know.

Derek and Mark looked at each other and nodded. "He beats her up sir." Derek told him. "He hits her, kicks her, the lot. He's put her in here before and I'm quite convinced he's the reason why she's in ICU not waking up any time soon."

Mark felt his heart sink after Derek said that. He couldn't bare the thought of Zoey not waking up.

Richard looked at Derek. "Are you absolutely sure?"

"Chief, she told me herself. Derek told me the last time she was here but she told me herself last night." Mark spoke quietly.

Derek shot him a look that said I didn't know that as Richard asked, "How did she tell you last night?"

"She was in my hotel room last night. Don't worry, nothing happened." He said, mainly aiming it at Derek. "We have a history together and if I'm honest, I really, really don't want that asshole in the same room as her."

"Are you telling me that you knew she was being beaten up by her boyfriend and withheld this information from the police?"

"Sir, we couldn't do anything unless she was willing to comply. It's our word against hers and if she says otherwise, they're not going to listen to a word we say." Derek explained.

"Derek has tried to get her to leave him many times but she just says she loves him and refused to leave him." Mark added on.

Richard nodded as Mark's beeper went off. "Sorry chief but I have to go. I got a 911 from ICU." He explained as he jumped up and headed towards the door.

"Hang on Mark, I'm coming with you." Derek called after him. "Sorry chief."

The two men ran off towards ICU where they could hear screams and cries that was unmistakably Zoey. "MARK! HELP ME!"


	19. Chapter 19

When Zoey opened her eyes and looked around she had no idea how she got there. She knew she was in the hospital but why she didn't know. She looked around and saw Justin standing in the corner of the room by the door. Images of what happened earlier that day popped in to her head.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" Zoey stumbled terrified of what he might do to her.

"I'm here to see you babe. I was worried about you."

"Why? You put me in here."

"I called for an ambulance. I saved your life."

"You ruined my life. You ruined my life the second you hit me the first time; I just didn't know it until now." She told him quietly.

"Oh don't be so mellow dramatic. You're fine, you'll be here for a few days – week tops – and then you can come home and we can forget about all this."

Zoey stayed silent for a moment or two. "No. I'm not going home with you."

Justin walked forward and leaned in as close to Zoey as he could possibly get. "I think you'll find you will."

"Go away. I don't want you anywhere near me." She said weakly.

"Is that right? I don't believe you. I know deep down you love me and can't wait to get out of here so we can have a repeat of this morning." Justin said snidely.

"You mean when you raped me?"

"Oh shut up. There was no rape. You can't rape your girlfriend, you loved it. You're just too up on your high horse to admit it."

Zoey looked away. There was just no telling him. She wanted him to go away, she wanted a peaceful life and what she wanted mostly was for Mark to come crashing through that door and knock the bastard out. That's when she had an idea. With all the strength she had in her, she breathed in as much as she could and screamed as loudly as she possibly could. Justin immediately muffled her screams with his hand.

"Shut up! What the hell are you doing?" Justin hissed at her as the door opened and nurse Olivia walked in.

"Is everything okay in here?" she asked curiously eyeing Justin up and down, noticing his hand over her mouth.

He droped his hand and said with a smile, "Yes everything's fine. She's just woken up."

"Oh then I must page her doctor to inform him." She nodded, looking over at Zoey who gave her a look that told her that she needed help. Olivia took the hint and walked out, paging Mark a 911.

Justin looked at her with a face like thunder. "You EVER do that again and I swear to god I will make your life a living hell when you get back home. Is that clear?" he threatened leaning in to her closer and closer with every word getting more and more quiet.

Zoey could do nothing but remain quiet and nod. She turned her head away towards the glass window in time to see Mark and Derek running in the direction of her room. As Justin backed off, he smiled slyly at her. "Good girl. Don't you see it? If you obeyed the rules to begin with, none of this would have happened." He said, stroking her chin with his thumb. Zoey grimaced at his touch, which Justin saw straight away. "What's the problem Zoey? Can't stand the site of me anymore? Do you want your fancy man or something?"

That gave her the ammunition to scream at the top of her lungs. "MARK! HELP ME!"

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Mark heard the screaming again and yelled at Olivia to call security. Both he and Derek ran straight in to the room where Justin was standing over her yelling. "Shut the FUCK up! What did I tell you!" he swung his arm back and before he could bring it forward, Mark caught his arm in his hand.

"Not this asshole again? Didn't they fire you?" he asked cockily.

"Unfortunately for you not yet and unless you want a broken jaw to match that broken nose and black eye, I'd get the FUCK out of here!" he yelled dragging him out of Zoey's room, leaving Derek to comfort her.

Before another brawl could start up again, security had arrived along with the chief. "Thanks Sloan, we'll take him from here."

Mark nodded and ran over to Zoey where she lay sobbing with Derek holding her. Mark, wanting to take over so Derek could do the medical bit, sat on the side of her bed, put his arm round her and let her lean in to him, wrapping her arms round his waist. He kissed her head and rubbed her back, reassuring her that she was going to be okay.

"It's all looking good Zoey but you were out for a long time, I want to do an MRI to make sure there's no damage to the brain." Derek explained to her but mainly talking to Mark, as Zoey was incapable of saying anything remotely comprehensible. Mark just nodded, as tears started to blur his eyes and a lump had started to form in his throat. Derek put down the notes and left the room, closing the door behind them. He slumped against the door and let the tears that he had blinked back finally escape. Inside Zoey's room, Mark and Zoey lay on the bed together quietly crying together.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

Zoey and Mark had been lying together for the best part of an hour without either person saying anything to each other. They both remained silent until Zoey mumbled something in to Mark's chest.

"What was that?" He asked her.

Zoey sighed and said, "Thank you."

Mark frowned. "What for?"

"For everything. For looking out for me, for breaking his nose for me, for not taking advantage of me last night. Thank you for …being you."

"Well actually it was Derek who broke his nose, I just gave him a black eye." He said cheekily. "Listen, I told you Zoey, I'm not the same guy who left you in the restaurant 5 years ago. I'm not the same guy who slept with Derek's wife. Believe it or not Zoey, I'm a changed man and I would do anything to prove that to you."

Zoey stayed silent before whispering, "You already have."

"I have?"

"Yeah. When I saw you for the first time, I hated you so badly for what you did to me, what you did to Derek. I wanted to ruin your life like you did to us."

"And what a wonderful job you did of that." Mark said sarcastically but smiled to show he was joking.

"Yeah well, I had no intention of getting close to you again which is why I was so hesitant to have lunch with you that time when you hunted me down."

"You know I only hunted you down as you so put it because I wanted to explain myself to you."

"Explain yourself?" Zoey questioned looking up at him.

"Yeah, I wanted to tell you why I did the things I did."

Zoey rested her head against Mark's chest again. "Look, it's all in the past, can we just forget about it? Start again?"

"No Zoey. We can't because you think that I was a heartless prick who left you and two weeks later slept with my best friend's wife."

"Well yeah, 'cause you were."

Mark sighed. "Zoey, you can call me a prick 'cause let's face it, I was, but heartless? Zoey you lied to me about your age and that's what pissed me off. I watched you break down in floods of tears and my stupid pride wouldn't let me comfort you. I wanted to run back in there and hold you and tell you that it would be okay but I couldn't. I've been disappointed, let down and lied to by too many people and I was pissed off that girl I loved was one of them. Zoey I really really wanted to go back to you but I just couldn't."

"How does that not make you heartless? If I recall, you still walked away."

"I know and maybe that's what makes me heartless but … Zoey, I still cared about you. I still do … I haven't stopped caring."

"Mmm, I see that. Just you being here with me, talking to me about all this, it shows that you want to put things right. Mark, that takes guts, not everyone can do that."

The two of them laid together in a comfortable silence. Zoey took in everything he had just said. It then hit her. "You loved me?"

Mark's eyes widened as he realised what he had just admitted. "What?"

"You said, "the girl you loved". Unless another there was another girl, you just told me you loved me."

He sighed. "Look, there's no point lying, I did love you, I was _in_ love with you. It's because I loved you that I've regretted everything that I ever did to hurt you …everyday."

Zoey sat up and looked in to his eyes where she saw just how sincere he was. She gave him a shy smile. Resting her head back on his chest, she said, "Really?"

Mark lifted her head up by her chin and looked in to her eyes so he could see the emotion that was already building. "Really."

They both smiled at each other and they both felt their bodies fill with love and affection for one another. Mark kissed her forehead and let his lips linger for a few seconds before moving away. "If I could start all over, I would never have let you go." He told her and leaned in towards her rosy lips, the ones that he had missed so much. As the two of them got nearer and nearer to each other, there was a knock at the door. They pulled apart quickly as Derek entered the room.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt but I need to do an MRI scan for Zoey. I assume everything is in check here?"

"Yeah." Mark said quietly, looking over at Zoey. "Everything's fine."


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: This chapter will have Meredith and Zoey meeting for the first time because I wanted them to meet at some point so I thought this would be the perfect time. She's going to show a little jealousy in this chapter but, for all you MerDer fans, I haven't made her a nasty character :)**

The next day around mid-day, Mark and Derek, along with Meredith and one other intern, brought Zoey to another room, away from ICU. Her scans showed that there was no damage to her brain but they wanted to keep her in over night in case of any change. Mark had stitched up her wounds before taking her over for her MRI. Meredith and the other intern were taking care of Zoey, making sure she was comfortable.

"So you've made quite an impression on my boyfriend." Meredith stated to Zoey once the boys had left the room.

"Excuse me?"

"My boyfriend, Derek Shepherd, doesn't stop talking about you and then the next thing I know, he's punching some guy out to defend your honour."

"I think you've got the wrong idea. Me and Derek are just friends. And the guy he punched? That was my boy – well ex-boyfriend" Zoey started. _So this is the amazing Meredith Grey? She seems more jealous than amazing._

"If you two are just friends then why did he feel the need to punch your boyfriend?"

"I don't know. Maybe because my boyfriend's the reason why I'm here? Maybe because this is the sixth time he's put me in hospital in the past year? Maybe because Derek is an amazing friend and was there to defend me. Meredith, I've known Derek for five years and we're extremely close but that's all it's ever been."

"Oh." Meredith sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm not usually a jealous person and you seem really nice from what Derek has told me."

"The same goes to you."

Meredith laughed. "What?"

"Yeah, you should hear him go on. Once he starts, he doesn't stop. He keeps insisting that I meet you and I have to say I'm disappointed that it wasn't in better circumstances." Zoey smiled.

"He's the same about you."

Both girls went in to an awkward silence. "I hope you don't mind me saying this but you seem very upbeat considering what you've been through."

"I'll let you in to a little secret Meredith – it's a front. The truth is, I was sleeping in the waiting area 'til the late, sometimes early, hours because I was terrified of what I might go home to. I can't let it run my life though; I can't sit there and wallow in self-pity. What would people say? Stop complaining and do something about it."

"Why didn't you?" Meredith asked quietly.

"I was too scared to. I kept making excuses for him, saying he only got like that when we was drinking but the truth is that it happened all the time regardless of how much he'd drunk. There were moments when I was going to leave him the first time he hurt me but I just kept going back to him because I didn't know what he was capable of."

Meredith looked at her with sympathy. How could anyone hurt her? She seemed so sweet. "And you do now?"

Zoey lay there and said nothing for a moment contemplating whether to say what was on her mind. "He raped me Meredith. He raped me and then practically put my head through the wall." She paused before continuing. "So in answer to your question, no. No I don't know what else he's capable of. He could – would – probably try to kill me if he got given the opportunity."

Meredith looked at her. "Let's not give it to him then." She was shocked at what she was hearing. How could one person put up with so much shit? In a way, she understood why Zoey would put herself through that. Meredith had put up with a lot of shit from her mother as she was growing up but obviously it wasn't the same and she would never compare the two but on some level, she understood.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Mark and Derek were standing by the surgical board when Meredith approached them.

"I've just had a chat with your friend Derek."

"Oh yeah? Which friend would that be?" He asked her.

"Zoey. Thanks for introducing us by the way." She said sarcastically, hitting him gently in the stomach.

Mark looked over at Meredith. "You had a chat with Zoey?"

"Yeah. How do you know her?"

Derek looked over at Mark, wondering how he was going to answer this question. "Yes Mark, how do you know her?"

Mark shot him a glare. "We all know each other from New York." He said simply.

"So you must know that girl has been to hell and back fifty times over."

"No I did not."

"How could you not have known!?" Meredith cried out. "If you're all meant to be friends then why didn't you do anything to stop it!"

"Hey! I didn't know until a couple of days ago. I hadn't seen her for five years up until a couple of months ago so if there's anyone to blame, blame Derek."

Meredith turned to face her boyfriend. "Derek, did you know about this?" he nodded his head. "Then why didn't you do anything to stop it? No' one deserves anything like what she's been through."

"Hey, hey, calm down, it's not that easy you know. I told her to leave him on countless occasions but she didn't seem to want to. You can't blame me for not trying cause I can tell you, I did try."

"You didn't try hard enough. That bastard raped her Derek – he raped her and then practically put her head through the wall."

Mark's head shot up from the chart he was working on. "What did you say? That can't be true."

"It is. Well that's what she told me just now."

"Derek I will never forgive you if you knew this was happening." Mark warned him.

"I promise you I did not know that. I'm as shocked as you are. Trust me, if I had known that, I would have got involved a lot sooner."

Meredith nodded at Derek before turning to Mark. "Hey, how could I have known? I told you, I'm only just getting to know her again." He protested.

"Yeah, so how come you haven't heard from her in 5 years and Derek has?"

"Erm, because I thought she was still in New York."

"Derek didn't. You were all friends weren't you?" She questioned.

"We weren't exactly on good terms…"

"That's an understatement if I've ever heard one." Derek piped up, raising an eyebrow at Mark who just glared back. "Go on Mark, just tell her the truth."

"What's that? He slept with her and never called?"

"No, it wasn't like that. It's … complicated."

"What could be so complicated? Just tell me what happened between you and her."

Mark looked at Derek with pleading eyes to get her to let the subject go. It wasn't that he didn't want to admit he was in love with her; he just knew that if she knew that, she'd want to know what happened and then he would have to go through the painful story all over again – something he was not prepared to do.

"Well, Mark what happened?"

"Doesn't matter." He said quietly.

"Course it mat-"

"Drop it Meredith!" Mark said sternly. "It's none of your business what happened five years ago between me and Zoey so just leave it."

"Were you in love with her?" Meredith queried.

Mark said nothing. Instead he grabbed the charts for his post-op patients and strode off in the opposite direction.

"Oh my god he was in love with her, wasn't he?" Meredith whispered, turning to Derek.

"He was in love with her. She was in love with him. If you ask me, they still are. You satisfied now?"

"Not really, no. You think they still love each other? What about Lexie? I mean she is dating Mark."

"Since when do you care about Lexie?"

"Derek! How could you say that! Lexie is my sister and I will kill Mark if he hurts her."

Derek sighed. "Listen, Zoey was the first girl Mark Sloan has ever loved – or at least admitted to loving. He has never truly got over her. That's why he's such a man whore. He sleeps with girls to get over the one girl he let get away five years ago. Before you look at me like that, when he started dating Lexie, she did mean something to him, of course she did. With Zoey back in his life, it's thrown him for six and he doesn't know what to do. I really think there's a part of him that will always love that girl no matter what or who is out there."

Meredith nodded. "What happened between them? Mark and Zoey I mean."

"It's not a good idea to tell you here. I promise I'll tell you tonight at the house."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Mark walked in to Zoey's room. "I've just had an interesting chat with Meredith and Derek."

Zoey put down the magazine she was reading. "That's nice for you." She smiled. "What was this chat about?"

"You." Mark said coldly.

"Oh. What did she say?"

"That he raped you." Mark said bluntly.

"Oh. There's no beating about the bush with you is there." Zoey joked.

"How many times Zoey?"

Zoey looked down at her hands, which were now in the middle of a thumb war. Mark saw for the first time just how broken she was. He softened up as he approached her. "It's okay, just tell me." He said, stroking her hair.

Zoey pushed him away. "Don't Mark."

"What did I do?"

"Feel sorry for me. I don't need anyone's pity, I don't need anyone to feel sorry for me." She told him, letting tears slide down her cheek.

Mark climbed on to the bed with her and put his arm round her shoulders, allowing her to lean against him. "I'm not pitying you or feel sorry for you. I'm here because I care about you and I'm worried about you." He assured her, wiping away her tears with his free hand.

Zoey looked at him through blury eyes. "It just happened the once." she sniffed.

Mark nodded at her and made her lay back in to his chest so he could wrap his arms around her and protect her. Zoey breathed in his scent, something she could always get used to. He always did have an amazing smell to him. "You smell nice." She breathed.

Mark grinned. "What did you say?"

Zoey's eyes widened as she realised what she said out loud. " Oh erm, nothing."

Mark laughed. "It wasn't nothing, it sounded like "you smell nice", would that be correct?"

Zoey sat up and looked at Mark, pretending to be shocked. "I never said anything of the sort." She said.

"Liar." Mark grinned at her. They both giggled together like they used to. Mark moved her hair out of her face and looked in to her eyes. "I love hearing you laugh like that."

They both settled down again with Zoey in Mark's arms. "How come I didn't know you were here until two months ago? You've been in Seattle for what? Two years? You were working downstairs in the day care centre and I didn't have a clue. Just explain to me how you managed to escape my attention."

Zoey sighed. "I didn't want you to know I was here. Mark, you know how much you hurt me. I didn't want to see you because I didn't want to face that again and bring up all the hurt and hatred I had for you. I'm really glad that's not the case anymore. I mean, I'm willing to forget the past because the truth is, in the two years that I've been with Justin, even at the beginning before I learnt the truth about him, I've never felt for him what I felt for you in the short time that we were together and if I was completely honest with myself, I've never really got over you..."

Mark's entire body filled with emotions. He displayed the biggest grin anyone could possibly make. Smirking at her, he mocked, "You never got over me eh?"

"Yes but I also hated you, don't forget that part." Zoey laughed, leaning forward to gently elbow him in the stomach.

Mark looked at her seriously. "I'm sorry I hurt you so much."

Zoey smiled at him. "I know you are. It's okay. It's all in the past."

Mark smiled at her and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. "I never really got over you either."

Zoey's heart swelled to twice the size. "Really?"

Mark nodded. Looking in to her eyes he noticed they were sparkling again, for the first time in a long time. Mark was about to lean in again when his pager beeped. _Shit!_

"Does that mean you have to go?" Zoey asked, trying not to let the disappointment show in her voice.

"Unfortunately. I'll be back soon though okay?"

Zoey nodded. "Okay."

Mark kissed her on the head again, jumped off the bed and headed for the door. He put his hand on the handle, turned round to face Zoey who gave him a smiley wave. Mark turned round and sighed. "Fuck it." he said, letting go of the door. He turned round and skipped over to the bed. Taking hold of Zoey's face he pulled her in and kissed her. The built up passion that had been burning between them for the past five years exploded the minute their lips collided together. Mark's tongue found his way in to Zoey's mouth and the two tongues danced together like they had done so many times all those years ago, only this time, it was so much better. Their mouths moved together in unison, both of them reminding each other just how good the other was. Mark was the first to, regretfully, pull away. He kissed her again on her lips before saying to her, "I want us to be together." Zoey's eyes were still shut but they shot open as she heard the last sentence.

"What?"

Mark flashed her his famous smile that makes Zoey go weak at the knees. "You heard me." He kissed her again. "I've got to go. I'll be back later. Think about it." He said smiling. He flicked the tip of her nose before running out of the room.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Ten minutes later Lexie came in to Zoey's room to check everything was in order. Zoey sighed. She wanted to be with Mark, she really did. There were just complications. Complications that meant that there was a Lexie and because there was a Lexie, that made it complicated. Lexie had said "hey" to her and asked her how she was and was just being a really sweet girl. She seemed like a genuinely nice girls and nice girls didn't deserve to have their boyfriends stab her in the back or have said boyfriends' ex-girlfriends demand to have him back. No, she liked Lexie. If Mark wanted to break up with Lexie that was fine but she wasn't going to force him to do so. She wasn't that sort of person.

* * *

**A/N: I get the feeling like I might be getting a bit repetitive so I apologise if it is. Let me know what you think and I promise the next chapter will be different :)**


	21. Chapter 21

Mark walked in to Zoey's room where she was up and dressed and ready to leave – it was the day she was being discharged from the hospital.

Mark closed the door behind him causing Zoey to turn round to see who had entered her room. Mark walked over to her and put his arms round her waist. "Your face has healed up very nicely." He told her, kissing her gently on the lips.

Zoey giggled. "Yes, the doctor did a wonderful job. I really should thank him one day."

"Any ideas on how you going to do that?"

"Hmm, I don't know. Maybe a simple hand shake and "thank you" will do the trick." Zoey grinned.

"A hand shake eh? Anywhere in particular?" Mark winked at her.

Zoey pushed him off her laughing. "Nice to know you're still as pervy as you were five years ago."

Mark laughed as he sat on the edge of the bed and watched Zoey tie her hair up in a ponytail. "So where you heading off to?"

"Home."

Mark's face dropped and turned to thunder. "Home? As in the apartment where you got the life beaten out of you time and time again? Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Well where else am I going to go?" She said slightly annoyed. "I'm not being run out of my own home Mark."

"Are you telling me you actually _want_ to go back there?"

Zoey sighed. "No. I don't want to go back there but I don't have a choice do I?"

Mark looked at her. She looked so defeated. He took a deep breath and calmed down. "Come here." he said, taking her hands and pulling her towards him. He looked up at her when she was standing in front of her and stroked her cheek, making Zoey go weak at the knees. She had forgotten what it was like to have this kind of love and affection. "Listen, you don't have to go back to that place. Why don't you stay at my hotel room with me?"

Zoey looked at him and as much as she wanted to scream at him yes, she knew in her heart of hearts she couldn't. "I don't think that'll be a good idea."

Mark's smile fell. He had gone out on a whim just to ask her because he was knew she would say that. He had thought about nothing else since their last chat where they confessed they still had feelings for each other. It only seemed like the right thing to do seeing as he didn't want her going back to that apartment that was heaving with horrific memories he knew Zoey would not be able to cope with.

Zoey looked down and saw how upset he looked. "It's not that I don't want to because I really do, honestly. It's just … I don't think Lexie would be too happy with the idea. You two are still dating and she seems like a really sweet girl, I don't want to do anything that will hurt or upset her."

"But I want you." He said, giving her a look that he had only ever given Zoey. It was a look that said you are the only one for me. "I know you want me too, Zoey."

Zoey nodded her head, unable to speak. She used to love it when he looked at her like that but that day she felt like she was stealing someone else's boyfriend and she hated that. However, she couldn't deny her feelings any longer. "I do." She squeaked out. Mark grinned and leaned in to kiss her but Zoey stopped him. "This isn't going to happen unless you end it with Lexie. And even then, it's going to take a while for us to be together. I'm not one of those girls who jumps in to bed with a guy the second he breaks up with a girl. There are other people's feelings involved and I'm not going to be the one to hurt them."

Mark nodded his head in agreement. "And that is what I love about you." He stood up and looked in to her emerald eyes. "Come back with me." He asked her again. As Zoey opened her mouth to protest, he put his finger to her mouth to shut her up. "Just for tonight. Then you can do or go wherever you want. I'm just not comfortable with you going back to that apartment – at all." He added.

Zoey sighed and remained silent, thinking about his offer. "I'll do you a deal. End it with Lexie and I'll go back to the hotel room with you." Before Mark could say anything, she added with extra emphasis, "I'm just not comfortable going back to her boyfriend's hotel room."

"I break up with Lexie by the end of the day, and you come back to my hotel room with me?" Mark repeated.

"That's right."

He kissed her forehead before saying, "Done. Meet me by the exit tonight at 8." And left the room, leaving Zoey with a massive smile on her face, delighted, yet guilty that he was going to end his relationship for her.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Derek found Mark by the nurses' station staring at a patient's chart. Getting nearer to him, he found that the chart was empty and he was just staring at it.

"You know if you put pen to the paper, move it about a bit at clever angles, you might just be able to make words appear." He said sarcastically.

"You really crack me up you know that?" Mark replied in the same tone.

Derek laughed. "What's up with you?" he queried.

"Nothing. Why would anything be up?"

"Well maybe because you're struggling to write up this patient's chart. Why are you doing it anyway? Surely you'd get an intern to do it for you. This isn't the Mark Sloan everyone knows and loves."

"It's easier if I do it, that way it gets done properly."

Derek looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Yeah, 'cause you've done so much already ... how long you been working on that?"

Mark glared at him. "Just started it actually. Anyway, the interns are useless - you know that."

"Even so, you never do the paperwork yourself ..."

"Yeah, well I'm doing it now. Why does it matter?" Mark snapped.

"Okay, calm down. Why don't you put that down for a moment and tell me what's on your mind."

Mark sighed as he dropped the pen on the desk. "Not here okay? Nurses talk." He told Derek who nodded and glanced over at the nurses who were quite obviously trying to subtly listen in to what they were saying - trying being the key word. "You'd think they didn't have any work to do." Derek muttered as he moved away from the desk with Mark following behind him. They both sat on two nearby chairs. Mark sat forward with his elbows propped on his knees and rubbed his face with both hands. Derek sat back curiously watching him. "You going to tell me what this is about?" He asked him.

Mark sighed once again. "I have to break up with Lexie."

Derek's eyes widened. "You have to break up with Lexie?" he repeated.

Mark nodded.

"I thought everything was great with you two."

"It is."

"So then why do you have to break up with her?"

"Because I want to be with Zoey." Mark said in a tone that said that should be obvious.

"Ah of course. Why didn't I think of that?" Derek replied sarcastically. Trying not to laugh at the look Mark was now giving him that said I am going to hurt you, he asked, "What makes you think breaking up with Lexie means you'll end up with Zoey?"

"Because she won't stay with me tonight unless I end it with Lexie."

"Okay, I'm confused you need to explain this a bit more." Derek told him.

Mark sighed. "I don't want Zoey to go back to that apartment on her own – not after everything that's happened. So I suggested she come back to mine but she said that she would if I end it with Lexie."

"Again, why do you have to end it with Lexie?"

"Because she's not comfortable going back to her boyfriend's hotel room."

"No, no, there's something you're not telling me here. I know Zoey, she wouldn't make you break up with your girlfriend – she's not that manipulative."

"I want us to be together as does she."

"Ah, I knew this day would come. When did you discover this?

"Earlier on when I discharged her." Mark paused. "Oh man, what am I going to say to Lexie? I have never properly dumped a girl before."

"Be honest with her I guess. I mean, what can you say?"

"That I think she's a great girl but there's more chemistry between me and Zoey and I've fallen in love with her again. And maybe if things were different, we would have worked out?"

"Yeah, that could work. I would just leave out the whole Zoey thing, at least for the moment. Though she does need to know she'll be with you tonight and tell her the reason why."

"That I've fallen in love with her again?"

Derek said nothing. He just looked at him to say don't be so stupid.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The day went quickly and 8 o' clock arrived quicker than a blink of an eye and Mark still hadn't ended it with Lexie. He saw her by the exit about to leave so he built up the courage to tell her then. "Hey Lexie, wait a second." He called out to her. "I need to talk to you."

Lexie stopped where she was and waited for Mark to catch up with her. "Hey, everything okay?"

"Erm yeah … actually no, not really. Listen I don't know how to tell you this but-"

"Hey before you say anything, I just want you to know that I know I may not act like it, but I'm really happy that we've gone public." Lexie interrupted. "I'm really grateful that you just forgot about everything else and just did it."

_Shit! This is hard enough as it is._ "It's fine, don't worry about it." he said sheepishly.

"No, I do because you put so much at risk for me and I feel like I've done nothing for you."

At that moment Zoey came round the corner and saw Mark and Lexie talking together. She couldn't hear what they were saying and maybe that was for the best. She didn't think she would be able to handle it if she heard or saw Lexie cry. She stayed back round the corner and watched the two of them talk together.

"You don't have to do anything Lexie."

"But I do! You don't understand, I'm not that girl who only takes and doesn't give."

"I don't think you're that girl – far from it."

"Good. Look, from now on, I will do everything for you, even if it means cleaning your dirty laundry." she said, giggling. "I think we both know what a sacrifice that would be."

Mark laughed with her. He loved laughing with her; what had he done in a previous life that he had managed to land such an intelligent, beautiful girl? He suddenly felt sick at the thought of actually ending it with this girl. It would devastate her and that would kill him. It hit him that he couldn't end it with her, his heart just wouldn't let him. "Lex, don't be silly - I wouldn't inflict my dirty laundry on my worst enemy." Mark teased her.

Lexie smiled. He loved making her smile - she had a gorgeous smile. "Anyway, sorry what did you want to say to me?"

Mark hesitated. "Err, I asked Zoey to stay at the hotel with me for tonight. I know she's my ex and everything but she's also a very good friend of mine and I don't want her going back to her apartment. There are too many horrible memories just waiting for her and I'm worried about her. Is that okay?"

Lexie smiled at him. "I understand. Separate beds right?"

"Yeah of course."

Just as Lexie leaned in to hug him, Meredith walked past Zoey, causing her to turn her back to Mark and Lexie. "Oh hey!"

"Hey. What you still doing here? Didn't you get discharged this morning?"

"Oh I'm meeting Mark. I'm staying at his hotel tonight cause I don't really want to go home if I was honest."

"Trust me I would be the same."

Back over at Lexie and Mark, the two of them were still hugging when Lexie said, "You're a good man Mark, I know you care about her and I would be a horrible person to stand in the way of you helping her." and then leaned in and kissed him, which was unseen by Zoey and Meredith who were standing round the corner still chatting. They pulled apart as Zoey said goodbye to Meredith and walked round the corner.

"Are you sure you don't mind Lex?"

"Yes I'm sure. How about I take this back to the supply closet and I'll speak to you tomorrow."

"Sure." Mark said, handing her the box of plastic gloves he was holding, watching her walk away. Watching them wave goodbye to each other, Zoey took it as her opportunity to make her way over to Mark.

"Hey, how did it go?"

Mark turned round, startled at her sudden appearance. "Wh-what? How did what go?"

"Between you and Lexie."

"Oh um fine."

Zoey looked at him and noticed he had a pained look about him. "Hey you did end it didn't you? I know this may sound harsh but you're not a couple anymore are you?"

Mark hesitated. There were only two things he could say to that and that was the truth or he could lie. If he told her the truth, she would end up going back to her apartment where goodness knows what could be lurking there, waiting for her to come through the front door. If he lied to her, she would go back to his hotel room with him, where nothing but a large, safe bed would be waiting for her. There was no weighing this one out – the answer was obvious. "Yeah, just now. It's over between us now." Mark felt guilty but it was for Zoey's own safety. There was no way he could stand back and let her go back to her "home".

Zoey smiled slightly. "Come on, let's go. You can tell me about it on the way to the hotel."

Mark took her hand and the pair of them walked out towards his car while Lexie's smiled disappeared as she looked on at the scene that had unravelled before her eyes.


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: this chapter introduces a certain red head … two guess who it is :p**

**Oh and this chapter gets a bit sexual ... actually a lot sexual lol anyways ... enjoy! and dont forgget to tell me what you think :D  
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­­­­­­­Mark and Zoey walked in to the hospital together the following morning. Luckily, she was working in the day care centre until 5.30, which mean he had the entire day to actually end it with Lexie. It also meant it was highly unlikely either girl would bump in to each other and his secret would be blown. He entered his office, changed in to his scrubs and gathered the paperwork for his patients. Just as he was about to leave for his first patient of the day, Lexie opened the door and walked in. "Hey." She smiled at him. "I missed you last night."

Mark's heart dropped. He did not expect to see her first thing; he wasn't ready to end it with her yet. "Hey." He smiled back half-heartedly.

Lexie walked over and kissed him gently on the lips, which he regrettably returned. "So what happened last night?" She questioned.

"What? Nothing happened." Mark said quickly. That was a lie. The truth is that a lot happened last night. They didn't have sex but were close to it …

_During the car ride back to the hotel, Zoey had made Mark laugh so much he had forgotten about Lexie and couldn't wait to have her to himself in his hotel room. They walked through the lobby and had managed to restrain themselves whilst waiting for the elevator – both of them wishing it would hurry up. Once inside the empty elevator, they couldn't take it any more and once the doors closed, both of them attacked each other with their mouths, each of their hands running all over each other's bodies. They only pulled apart once the elevator pinged when it got to their floor. They hurried over to his room and once inside they continued the hungry attack on each other and fell on to the bed. Mark rolled on top of her and stopped to take in the beauty beneath him. He closed the gap between them and continued to kiss her only less vigorously. This time when he kissed her, it was passionate but delicate at the same time – a kiss that said he wanted her but it was going to be no one night stand. Mark played with the hem of her shirt before eventually pulling it over her head. His hand made his way up her stomach and found its way to her breasts, which he gently massaged over the thin material of her bra. Zoey removed of his shirt and marvelled at his perfectly toned body. Mark brought his spare hand round to her back and with the one hand, masterfully unhooked her bra strap within seconds. Zoey let it fall past her shoulders as she unbuttoned his jeans and rubbed his already throbbing member through his boxers. He took one of her breasts in to his mouth, nibbling it gently, which earned a soft moan from Zoey. Suddenly images of Lexie's face came in to his head and he felt a pang of guilt, something he just couldn't shake. She was about to remove his boxers when Mark pulled away from her. _

_"What's wrong?" Zoey asked him._

"_I can't do this." Mark admitted._

"_What? Did I do something wrong?" Zoey asked with a worried look on he face._

_Mark shook his head. He hoped he didn't have a look of guilt on his face. "Not at all. I really, really want to Zo, trust me. I just think we should do it properly this time. We've got all the time in the world to have sex; I don't think we should rush it. I want to take you out on proper dates and just get to know you again."_

_The worry in Zoey's face faded and in its place was a happy smile. "I do to." She whispered and kissed him tenderly on the lips. _

_Mark smiled back at her and returned the kiss. "Right, I'm going to go have a cold shower." He said referring to his massive bulge in the southern region._

"_Or I could just …" Zoey grinned wickedly, while trying to get hold of his member. _

_Mark pulled her hand away. "You know if you do that, I won't want to stop and we both agreed to wait." He kissed her again before making his way to the bathroom. He closed the door behind him, leaned back against him and breathed out. _

Lexie studied Mark closely. "Are you sure nothing happened?" she asked him.

"Mm hm." He replied.

"I saw the two of you leave last night and you looked a bit cosy and she is your ex-girlfriend…"

"Lexie she may be my ex-girlfriend but she's still a very good friend of mine. I still care about her a lot. Last night we drove back to the hotel, went up to my room and went to bed – I slept on the couch like I promised you I would." Mark reassured her, lying through his teeth.

Lexie laughed slightly. "'Cause you did, I'm just being silly. Anyway I have rounds so I gotta love you and leave you." She leaned up to kiss him before leaving his office. Mark watched after her wondering what the hell he was going to do.

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Downstairs in the day care, Zoey was feeding a two-year her milk as a glamorous red headed woman came in with a five year old clinging to her leg.

"Excuse me, can I drop her off? I need to run off."

Zoey looked up at the woman and saw the little girl in matching designer clothing. "Uh, just give me one second …" she said wiping the child's mouth of whom she was feeding. "Okay, I'm ready sorry about that." she smiled, getting up and making her way over to the woman.

The redhead smiled back. "It's no problem. This is Cammie, and I just need to drop her off and I'll be back probably by the end of the day." she explained, putting her hands on the little girl's shoulders.

Zoey lowered to her level and smiled at the little girl. She really was like a mini clone of her mother. Apart from her eyes; her eyes were different to her mother's. "Hi Cammie. I'm Zoey and I'll look after you while your mommy does whatever she needs to do. Why don't you go over there and play with the other boys and girls?" She said, pointing to herself and then over at the other 3 children that were already there.

"Okay." Cammie said quietly and wondered off in the opposite direction of the kids who were already there.

Zoey stood up again and turned to the redhead. "Don't worry I'm sure she'll be fine. Um, can you please fill this out?" Zoey asked, as the woman took the form from her hands and started to fill it out. "It's just so we know what not to feed her and what time she needs to sleep, if that's what you require …"

"Done. Can I go now?"

"Y-yes. Sure. Actually before you go I need to know your name." Zoey answered her.

"Dr. Montgomery - new Head of Neonatal." Was all she said before waving goodbye to her little girl and left. Zoey looked over at her who was just sitting by herself not doing anything. She wondered how a mother could just leave her child after she could quite clearly see she wasn't happy.

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Derek ran in to Mark's office after running around the entire hospital looking for him. Funnily enough, he hadn't thought of his office until last minute.

"What's up Derek?" Mark asked him nonchalantly. He was sitting behind his desk filling out some paper work.

"Chief … Addison … here … work." Derek tried to get out.

Mark's head shot up. "What about Addison?"

Derek put his forefinger up to indicate he needed a minute to catch his breath. Finally he said, "Chief spoke to me. Addison is coming to Seattle to work as a neonatal surgeon."

Mark looked up and saw the sincerity in Derek's face. "When's she coming?"

Derek fell back on the couch behind him. "I believe it's today."

"And you just thought you'd come running in here to tell me that? Fuck Derek I thought something had happened to Zoey again!"

Derek furrowed his forehead. "Why would you think that?"

"Because last time you came running up to me, Zoey had been brought in to the hospital!"

"Ah, good point. Well just as I knew you'd be frightened about the state of Zoey, I thought you'd be frightened of the prospect of my ex-wife popping up unexpectedly and thought you might need someone to help steady you." Derek joked.

"That was a terrible joke my friend."

"Yeah, I know …"

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An hour later Mark had remained in his office in order to avoid bumping in to Derek's ex-wife, the woman he had slept with after he had so brutally ended his relationship with Zoey. There was a knock at the door and Mark's heart started to race. What if that was her? He didn't think he could handle that …

Before he got a chance to think the door opened and Lexie walked in. "Hey, am I interrupting something?"

Mark's heart slowed down a bit but soon started to race again as the door closed and Lexie was now sitting on his lap kissing his neck.

Mark stared at the door and prayed that no one else would walk in. "Hey Lex, do you think we could continue this a bit later? I've got piles of paperwork to do."

Lexie stopped what she was doing and looked at him like he had just asked her to chew her arm off. She didn't understand what had got in to him. They hadn't had sex in just over three days and she couldn't work out what she had done wrong. "What's wrong?" She asked him.

Mark sighed. "Nothing. I'm just really busy."

"What, too busy to pay attention to your girlfriend? You always make time to pay attention to me." She said seductively, kissing his neck again, paying extra attention to the one spot that would always get him going. That did it. He swooped her up in his arms and sat her on his desk as he stood between her legs. He closed the gap between the two of them and kissed her passionately for the first time in what seemed like forever. Lexie started to untie his scrub pants and let them drop to the floor. She rubbed his member through the thin material that was his boxers, his member getting harder by the second. Lexie pulled his boxers down and then droped to her knees, bringing her mouth to his incredibly large manhood. Mark groaned as she began sucking, taking him further in to her mouth. He gently pushed her away and picked her to place her on his desk. He removed her panties which were already wet and threw them on the floor. Lexie opened her legs wider, placing each one on either side of Mark, allowing him to enter her fully, which he was only to happy to do so. It was slow at first but he as soon as they both got their rhythm they sped Normal 0 up. Mark kept an eye on the door as realisation hit him that it wasn't locked and anyone could walk in. He stuck his mouth to Lexie's as her moans started to get louder, which only meant that she was about to climax as was he. A minute later, Mark's head had collapsed on her shoulder, both of them were breathing heavily. They quickly got dressed before anyone realised what was going on in his office. "I'll see you tonight?" Lexie asked.  
"Yes, definately." he said, flashing her his mcdreamy smile. Mark suddenly groaned at the sound of knocking on the door. "I'm busy – go away!" he growled out to the person behind the door before leaning in to kiss Lexie. The door swung open and Zoey came in laughing. Mark froze with shock as he put laugh to face. Lexie, however, didn't realise the door had opened and continued to move closer to him. "I hope you don't always talk to your colleagues like that," she said, with a massive grin on her face before noticing Mark and Lexie. Lexie turned round to face her as she realised someone else was in the room. Zoey's face fell once she had witnessed the scene in front of her. "Wha-what's going on?" she stuttered, not that she needed to ask the question. It was pretty obvious what was going on and she had fallen for it yet again.

"Zoey, wait - I can explain ..." Mark started

Zoey didn't want to know. She shook her head violently and ran out the room allowing the tears to fall from her eyes, not giving a care in the world who saw her.

Back inside his office, Mark was still staring at the door where he saw Zoey break down in to tears for the second time. "Fuck!" he shouted out, running his hands through his hair.

Lexie looked on confused. "Hey, what's up? So your ex-girlfriend walked in on us nearly kissing … she shouldn't have walked in when you told her to go away. Besides ... it could have been a lot worse ... imagine if she walked in 30 seconds earlier." she said giggling.

"You don't understand Lex."

"What's there not to understand? She knows we're together, what did she expect?"

Mark sighed. "I don't know."

Lexie turned his head to face her. "You're not telling me the full story are you?" she asked him, who just simply shook his head. "Then tell me."

Mark sighed again. "I guess she thought something was going to happen again between me and her."

"What? Why would she think that?"

Mark looked away from her and reluctantly shrugged. He knew he shouldn't make Zoey out to be the bad guy when it was he who told her they would be together but he couldn't say that to Lexie. He couldn't watch another woman break down in front of him. "She must have got the wrong idea when I asked her to stay with me last night." He mumbled.

"How? I mean, you said nothing happened. You must have made it clear that it was strictly platonic between the two of you, especially when you slept on the couch." When Mark remained silent, Lexie started to panic a bit. "You did sleep on the couch didn't you? Yes you must have done because you wouldn't lie to me." She added. Mark continued to say nothing – guilt filling his body and mind. Lexie's breathing began to get heavier as she realised that he did lie to her. "You didn't sleep on the couch did you?" Mark shook his head slowly. "Oh my go- you promised me! You promised me you would sleep on the couch!" she cried.

"Lexie, it wasn't like that!" he insisted.

"I don't believe you!" she shouted at him.

"Lexie! Please believe me! Why would I do anything that would ruin our relationship?"

"Did you sleep with her?"

"No. I promise you, I did not sleep with her. She was lying in the bed and she asked me to join her - nothing dodgy! - we even put a wall of pillows between us."

Lexie smiled. "Okay."

"You do believe me don't you Lex?"

"Mmm hmm." she said almost too cheerfully, causing Mark to think otherwise. "I gotta go."

She walked out the room and Mark followed. He watched her disappear round the corner before punching a wall and yelling in aggravation.

"I see you're still up to your old ways. Two girls running out of your office within minutes of each other." A voice said behind Mark. He spun round to see a feisty redhead in designer clothing standing to his left.


	23. Chapter 23

_He watched her disappear round the corner before punching a wall and yelling in aggravation._

_"I see you're still up to your old ways. Two girls running out of your office within minutes of each other." A voice said behind Mark. He spun round to see a feisty redhead in designer clothing standing to his left._

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"They weren't running ... How long have-" he began before the woman cut him off.

"Can we talk?" she asked, indicating to his office. "We can? Great." She said, without giving Mark a chance to speak and walked in to his office. Mark groaned whilst following her in to his office.

"What do you want Addison?" he asked, shutting the door behind him. He noticed she had already made herself comfortable in his big chair behind his desk.

"Nice to see you too. Is that really how you greet people after five years of absence?"

"Cut the crap Addison, I am in no mood." He said fiercely.

Addison stared at him with a hint of a smile. "We need to talk Mark."

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Lexie Grey was a woman on a mission. She wanted to believe Mark when he said they didn't sleep together but at the pit of her stomach, there was that aching feeling that he was lying. She didn't particularly want to know what had happened between Mark and Zoey the night before in full details but she needed to find out for her own sake. She knew she'd probably like what she was going to hear as much as a patient would like to hear that they were going to die, but she needed to know what sort of man she had got involved with. After searching the entire hospital, she eventually found Zoey Heart in the restroom on the 4th floor. She was sitting on the surface by the sinks when Lexie walked in. She jumped down when she saw Lexie. Lexie's face softened when she saw that she had been crying.

"Before you say anything, it's not me you should be having a go at." Zoey sniffed.

"I'm not here to shout. I just want to know what's going on. Mark says nothing happened but I know something did and I want to know what." Lexie replied, her voice not as friendly as it was a few days ago when they last spoke.

Zoey remained silent as memories of the night before came flooding in to her head.

"Are you going to tell me what happened last night when you went back to his hotel room?"

Zoey looked down at the floor, playing with the tissue in her hands. "He told me he had ended it with you and he wanted to be with me."

"He said what? He told you it was over between me and him?" Zoey nodded. "Okay, and erm, did you-did you sleep with him?"

Zoey shook her head. "No. I promise you, I didn't have sex with him. He said he wanted to wait, to do things properly."

"Meaning what exactly?"

"He said that he wanted to take me out on dates and wait for the perfect moment."

"So you're telling me that he told you we had broken up and that he wanted to be with you?" Lexie asked Zoey who nodded Lexie didn't know what to do or what to say.

"I'm really sorry Lexie. If I had known you two were still together, I wouldn't have gone back to his hotel room – I told him I wouldn't."

"So he told you we had broken up so you would go back and sleep with him only his conscience took over." Lexie's face went from a frown to a smile. "So, we've both been played. I say, we play him – twice as hard."

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"Why are you telling me this now? It's been five years and you're telling me this now!" Mark shouted at Addison whilst pacing the width of his office.

"It's better than in 18 years time when she comes knocking on your door saying, "Hi dad, I'm your daughter, can I borrow 20 bucks?"

Mark chuckled a bit before realising the full extent of the situation. He had a daughter with Addison Montgomery, his best friend's ex-wife – the one mistake he ever regretted. "Sorry but I refuse to believe that. You told me you had an abortion so if you're trying to pawn off some poor bastard's brat on to me, you're sadly mistaken." He said bluntly.

"No I didn't. I said I was _going _to abort it and I nearly did. I went to the clinic but I chickened out at the last minute. I couldn't do that to something as innocent as a baby. It's not her fault her mommy and daddy were so careless. Listen, by the time I got the courage to tell you, you had run across state to Seattle to make things right with Derek."

"Hello! There are such things as telephone, email, and fax! It's not the medieval times when the only way to contact someone was via carrier pigeon!"

"You changed your number Mark and what did you want me to do? Email you saying this is a picture of our daughter?"

"Yes!"

"Of course because that's not insensitive is it?!"

Mark breathed in and out a couple of times to calm down. "Does Derek know?"

"Oh my g-you're unbelievable! I tell you we have a daughter together and the first thing you want to know is if Derek knows!"

"It's a legitimate question! We've just got our friendship back on track and I want to know if that's going to go down the drain!" He fell silent for a moment before speaking again. "Okay, so we have a daughter together."

"Yes we do."

"Name?"

"Camilla but everyone calls her Cammie."

"Cammie. Age?"

Addison gave him a disbelieving look. "Seriously Mark, you really have to ask me that?"

"Well I don't know do I!"

"Okay, calm down! She's five."

"And erm, does she look like me?"

"Well people say she looks like me but because they assume Derek's the father they say she has Derek's eyes … but they're your eyes. You can see for yourself if you want to, she's in the Day Care Centre downstairs now."

"What did you say?" Mark asked in a panicked tone.

"She's downstairs in the Day Care Centre … shouldn't she be? I mean I thought that's where the children go when mommies and daddies need to do something important like work."

"Oh you're hilarious, Addie. You know that girl who I broke up with before I slept with you?"

"The girl you were desperately trying to get over?"

"Ye-es. That's the one … well she works downstairs in the day care centre! If she's seen her … her being our-our-our erm …"

"Our daughter?"

Mark nodded. "…She'll freak!"

"Look she doesn't know who I am so the likelihood of her knowing my little girl is also your little girl so calm down and don't worry about it."

Mark nodded. "Yeah you're right. Okay, I'm calm. So … _does_ Derek know?" Mark asked.

Addison sighed before shaking her head. "I wanted to tell you first before we tell Derek."

"We?" Mark repeated.

"Yes, Mark, we." She said in a patronizing voice. "We might as well bite the bullet and tell him together. That way, if he gets mad, we can defend each other."

Mark thought about it. She did have a point; he would be able to get his anger out in one go and wouldn't have to hunt anyone down and punch him – again. "Okay, we'll tell him together. Let's go."

"What? Go where?"

"Well now's as good a time as any."

"You want to tell him now?!" Addison looked at him as if he was insane.

Mark nodded. "Don't look at me like that. I've got enough problems without this getting in the way."

Addison nodded. "Fine, let's go."

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"Are you sure you don't mind me staying with you?" Zoey.

"Don't be silly it's fine." Meredith replied. "You might have to suffer the couch though … rest of the rooms are already occupied."

"That's not a problem, thank you, I really appreciate it."

"What do you really appreciate?" Derek asked Zoey, walking up behind Meredith and kissing her on the cheek.

"Oh she's staying with us for a few days until she sorts something a bit more permanent." Meredith answered.

"Why? What happened with staying with Mark?"

Zoey looked at him with narrowed eyes. "How did … Oh never mind." She said smiling knowing full well Meredith must have told him. "It didn't quite work out."

"Oh? Why what happened?"

"That's what I've been asking for the past 10 minutes and she's not giving me anything." Meredith laughed.

"It doesn't matter okay. All you need to know is that I want nothing more to do with that bastard."

"Speaking of bastards …" Derek motioned his head behind Zoey, indicating Mark was approaching.

Zoey sighed. "I gotta go. See you later." She said before walking off.

"Yeah, I got rounds and interns to educate. Lunch?" Derek nodded and kissed Meredith a goodbye before she walked off.

"I don't know what you've done but you did bad." Derek joked as he was bent over a chart he was working on for a patient that had just got discharged.

"Derek the three of us need to talk." A female voice spoke.

He looked up to find Addison and Mark standing before him. Looking between the two of them he could tell it was serious. "Oh you have got to be shitting me. Please tell me you're not getting together. That would explain why Zoey wants nothing more to do with you …"

"No! Derek! We're not getting together!" Mark exclaimed. "But we do need to talk … preferably somewhere quiet."

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At the Grey household that evening, Derek was in the kitchen talking quietly with Meredith. He had just told her what Mark and Addison told him earlier that day. She was trying to convince him to tell Zoey before anyone else did.

"Mer, I don't think that's a good idea … she's been hurt enough by him." He told her. "I think we should wait for Mark to tell her. It'll be better coming from him."

"Do you really think Mark will willingly tell her that two weeks after they broke up, he slept with his best friends wife and now they have a baby together?"

"Well I told her as soon as I found out about the two of them and she thanked me then … maybe I should tell her … because hey, let's face it, he probably won't tell her."

Meredith nodded. "I'm going to bed now. Night, love you." she said kissing him lightly on his lips. "Night." she called over to Zoey who was curled up on the couch. Derek watched her go up the stairs mouthing "tell her" to him. Derek mouth back "I will" and walked over to Zoey who was watching the T.V. "Hey Zo, mind if I join you?"

Zoey shook her head. "Nope not at all but you have to be quiet."

Derek laughed. "Meredith's the same. So what are you watching?" he asked as he made himself comfortable next to her.

"Made of Honour."

"That sounds familiar … wait is that that film where that guy falls in love with his best friend who asks him to be her maid of honour?"

"Mmm hmm."

"That's a load of rubbish. Meredith made me watch that – god who would agree to do that? Is he wearing a skirt?!" Derek cried out.

"Derek, it's a kilt."

"Poor bastard."

Zoey giggled. "Looks a bit like you. Except he's better looking." She teased.

"Excuse me, I'm so much better looking than him!"

"Nah, that guy has better hair."

"Whatever you say …" Derek smiled. There was a short silence before he spoke again. "Do you mind if we pause this? There's something I need to talk to you about."

Zoey pressed pause on the remote and nodded. "Sure. What is it?"

"Um, remember Mark slept with my wife – well ex-wife now."

Zoey nodded. "It's not exactly something I can easily forget …"

"Well um … she's here in Seattle, working in the hospital."

"What?! Who is she?" Zoey shrieked.

"And before you freak out even more …"

"Who is she Derek?"

"She's the new Neonatal surgeon."

"I'm going to fucking kill her!"

"That's not the worst part … Zoey … she has a five year old child."

"So?"

"Zoey work it out. I was married to her for 11 years and not one child … five years ago, she slept with Mark …"

Zoey felt her world collapse around her. "She has a child with Mark." She said quietly.

Derek nodded slowly. "She does."

Zoey sat there quietly. "Oh my god ..."

"What?"

"Is she a redhead?"

"Erm ... ye-es." Derek aswered slowly.

"She ... her ... I've met her already."

Derek stared at Zoey blankly. "What do you mean you've already met her?" he asked. There was just no way she could have met her already.

"Well she dropped her kid off at the day care centre this morning. God! For five years I've wanted to meet this woman and tell her exactly what I think of her and when I do, I don't even realise it and miss the opportunity!" she exclaimed.

Derek laughed. "There's still plenty of time for that … she's sticking around for a bit remember?"

"Yeah, of course. I'll do it tomorrow." Zoey said with a sharp nod of the head.

Derek shook his head smiling; he knew there would be no stopping her. "Okay, so what happened with Mark?"

"What do you mean?" she asked yawning.

"Why are you staying here with us and not at his hotel?"

"'Cause … I walked in on Mark and Lexie … kissing."

"But you knew they were together." Derek said confused.

"No, Mark said he ended it last night with Lexie. I told him I would only go back with him if he ended it and I know that sounds really mean but I didn't think he would actually do it … well I guess I was right on that front 'cause he didn't actually end it if they were kissing … anyways that's why I went back with him otherwise I would have come back here with you and Meredith … or at least I would have asked first."

"Okay and now breathe." Derek joked. "Wow, Mark does like his girls who ramble … ouch!" Derek laughed as he got a pillow swung at the side of his head. "Was that really necessary?"

"Yes!" Zoey said sulkily, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Aw, you're so cute when you sulk like that…" Derek teased knowing she hated been called cute. Right on cue he got another pillow thrown at his head. Laughing, he said, "Okay, listen. On a serious note, they may not have been kissing. It may-"

"I saw them Derek! I know what kissing looks like and they were definitely … okay they weren't actually kissing but I know they were about to …"

"I don't believe that. Listen, Mark has spoken to me about this situation the three of you are in and I know he cares about you – I would say he loves you even."

Zoey rolled her eyes. "Yeah right."

"I'm being serious. He told me he wants to be with you and that he was going to break up with Lexie for you. I know he wouldn't lie to you so you must have been mistaken when you walked in on Mark and Lexie – it couldn't have been what you thought it was."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I mean, I know he's not the same man as he was five years ago. Hey, do you think you could talk to him? Tell him that I made a mistake?"

"Yeah, of course. You know I love you guys and would do anything to help."

"Thanks. Hey, tell him how sorry I am and that I want to make things right."

"Yeah, will do. Okay, I'm off to bed now. Are you going to be okay?"

Zoey nodded. "Course I will." she said smiling.

"Good. Night Zoey." He said, kissing her cheek.

"Night Derek." She waited until Derek had gone upstairs before she picked up her phone and sent a text. A couple of minutes later she got a reply saying "_Good. Phase two will start tomorrow. That bastard is going to wish he never messed with us."_

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Lexie rolled over as she heard her phone beep. She looked at the text that read, "P_hase one complete. Start of phase two?"_ she quickly sent her reply as Mark came out the toilet. "Who was that?" he asked her.

"Oh that was Meredith asking if I was coming home tonight. I told her I wasn't." she explained.

"Good." Mark grinned at her who disappeared back in to the bathroom.

Lexie smiled back slyly. _Messing with his head is going to be too easy. _She said to herself quietly.


	24. Chapter 24

The following morning Zoey found Mark and Derek talking together. She was pretty good at lip reading, which was how she knew the two men were talking about her. She sent Lexie a text saying, "_Phase two complete_" and smiling to herself, she walked off in the direction of the day care centre. She knew it would only be a matter of time before he came down there again to tell her he was being an ass and that nothing happened. She was right. Within the first hour she was in the day care centre Mark had come down and was trying to get her back.

"Zoey I promise you nothing happened."

"Oh really? What was she doing in there then?"

"She was trying to get me back."

"Oh was she, really? So you thought you'd fucking her on your desk would show her you don't want her back?"

"Wh-how-I mean that did not happen! I did not fuck her on my desk."

"Course you didn't." Zoey replied in a disbelieving tone.

"Listen Zoey, I'm sorry about what you think you saw, it wasn't like that at all."

Zoey stayed silent for a moment before answering. "Okay." She said simply.

"Okay?"

"Okay." She repeated in the same tone.

"What does that mean? Do you forgive me?"

"Sure."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Will you give me another chance?"

"Don't see why not. I mean, you guys are definitely not together anymore are you?"

"Oh no definitely not."

"Because if you are still together, you know nothing will ever happen with you and me – EVER!"

Mark swallowed. "Me and Lexie are not together anymore." He lied.

Zoey smiled in a knowing way. "Okay I'll give you another chance."

"Thank you Zoey." He said moving in to kiss Zoey who moved her head so he would only get her cheek. "I'll see you tonight?"

"Sure. Meet me at the front at 8."

"I don't finish until 8.30 … could we make it then?"

"You're an attending. Can't you get out half an hour early?"

"No can do Zoey. I've got a surgery at half 6 so the likelihood of actually getting out on time as it is, is slim … but I'll see what I can do." He said quickly after taking a look at Zoey whose face said he had better do what she said. He kissed her again on the cheek as he left. Watching him do so, she made a quick call to Lexie. "Yeah, he came crawling back like I knew he would … yeah, sure. I'll be there in five minutes." She said hanging up the phone. Lexie wanted to run through the next step although what it was Zoey didn't know. If she was perfectly honest, she was making it up as she went along. It just so happened she knew Mark Sloan better than he knew himself and she knew that what would work and what wouldn't. She made her excuses to go on a break and made her way to the elevator.

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Mark came up the stairs with a wide grin on his face, which slowly faded away when he saw Addison making her way over to him. "Sloan." She said slowly and with a hint of a smile.

"Montgomery." He said in the same tone.

"Are you coming then?"

"Coming where?"

"To the day care centre." She said as if it was obvious.

"I've already … why would I need to go to the day care centre?"

"Oh I don't know, to see your daughter maybe?"

"Wh-wh-what?"

"Stop stuttering and come on."

"You mean she's at the day care centre? Here in the hospital?"

"Yes, where else would I put a five year old little girl while I work?"

"That's a point …" he said breathlessly. "What are you doing?" he asked as Addison pressed the button calling an elevator.

"Calling for an elevator, what does it look like I'm doing?"

"Let's take the stairs." He said suddenly, grabbing Addison's arm and dragging her over to the stairs. There was no way he was willing to take the elevator, anyone could get in, at least this way he could see who was coming and there would be room to run if need be. As Mark and Addison bounded round the corner, the elevator doors pinged as they opened and Zoey walked out and hurried off to find Lexie.

Addison took hold of Mark's wrist as he was very hesitant to enter the room where the love of his life would be working, with the woman he had slept with five years ago just after he brutally dumped said love of his life, so he could see the daughter he never knew he had with said woman he slept with five years ago after he brutally dumped said love. Mark sighed as he walked in._ Fate was some nasty son of a bitch._ He thought to himself. He quickly scanned the room and thankfully Zoey wasn't anywhere to be seen. He let go of the breath he was now well aware he was holding. "Mommy!" he heard a little voice call out from across the room. He looked over and saw a mini version of Addison run across the room to where they were standing. Addison held out her arms and let the little girl run in to them. "Hey sweetie. Was today any better?"

Cammie nodded her head. "I made a friend. His name is Tuck."

"Wow that's brilliant baby."

"In a minute Tuck I'm talking to my mommy!" She called over to the little boy who belonged to Dr. Bailey.

Mark smiled. _Yep, she's definitely Addison's child._

"Mommy who's this?" she asked, pointing to Mark.

Addison looked from Cammie to Mark and back to Cammie. She took a deep breath before bending down to the child's level. "Do you remember me telling you that your daddy lived in Seattle with Uncle Derek? And I told you that one day we'll fly over and you'll get to meet him?"

Cammie nodded, not taking her eyes off Mark. "Is this my daddy? Are you my daddy?" she asked.

_Smart girl_. Mark thought to himself. "Yeah, I am." He replied smiling. He looked in to the little girls eyes, which he automatically recognised as his own. Other than the eyes, everything else was Addison. Zoey had never met Addison; the eyes were just a small detail so there was a possibility that if Zoey had already met her she wouldn't have put two and two together.

"Do you know my name?" Cammie asked Mark.

"Hmm I think I do."

"I bet you don't." she said with a cheek smile.

"Oh you do, do you? Can I take a guess?"

"You can have three guess and then I'll tell you."

"Hmm, is it Katie?"

"No!" Cammie exclaimed.

"No? Okay, is it Addison?"

"No that's my mommy's name."

"So it is! Ah I know, it's Cassie isn't it?"

"Nope! See! I told you you didn't know!" she said smugly.

"Oh no! Ok you're going to have to tell me."

"Cammie."

"That's what I said." He said smiling, teasing his new daughter.

"No you didn't you said Cassie." She said giggling.

"So I did!" his smile grew wider. He loved her giggle. He could get used to hearing that a lot more often. He may have just met her but he could tell she was a gorgeous, intelligent little girl and he was only too happy to call her his own. "Okay, Cammie, how would you like to get some ice cream with me and mommy?"

"Yeah!" she shouted.

"What do you say Addi?" he asked turning round to face her. For the first time he realised she hadn't said a word since introducing him to a whole new world that was fatherhood.

Addison had stepped back and was watching the beauty of Cammie bonding with her father, a sight she never thought she would see in this lifetime. If she could giver her daughter nothing else, at least she could say she gave her her father, the one thing both Cammie and Addison wanted most. She was so busy watching them interact she didn't hear what was being asked. "What do I say to what?" she asked.

"Ice cream!" Cammie shouted. "Daddy said we could get some with you."

Both Addison's and Mark's hearts had melted at the sound of their daughter call Mark daddy. "Of course baby."

Cammie grinned and took hold of Mark and Addison's hands and the three of them left to get some ice cream together.

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"So what's the next step?" Lexie asked for what seemed like the hundredth time in the past five minutes.

"Lexie, you know what the next step is, will you relax?"

"I'm sorry. I've never really done anything like this before."

"I'll be honest with you, neither have I."

"Really? You sure fooled me."

"Listen, I'm really just making this up as I go along."

"I don't care as long as it works."

"It will work, don't worry. Just whatever you do, do not let him break up with you. Do whatever it takes to make him stay with you. His birthday is next month, so hopefully if all goes according to plan, we'll be able to keep it going until then. Anything that occurs that you think will jeopardise the next step and we'll move it forward. However, we can't skip a step – they are all vital."

Lexie nodded. "I don't understand why this step one of the most important?"

"Because it will make him panic more will therefore be become more like putty in our hands. Trust me Lexie, it will work. Meet me at the front at 7.55."

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At 7.45 Mark had managed to get out of surgery 45 minutes earlier than expected. He couldn't stop thinking about Cammie. Addison's daughter. His daughter. He couldn't believe they had managed to create something as wonderful and as beautiful as Cammie but there was still that nagging feeling at the back of his mind - why now? Why did Addison tell Mark about her now, five years later? Yes Cammie needed her father in her life and she seemed to accpet that Mark was her father and not some random man her mother was trying to pass off as her father but something wasn't quite right. He saw the look on her face when he and Cammie were talking and it wasn't the usual look a mother would get. It was more emotional. It was as if she was capturing each moment like it could be her last. Everytime Cammie laughed or giggled or even dropped a bit of ice cream on her lap, she would look as if she would cry at any moment. Mark didn't understand it and didn't want to put it down to that time of the month - or TOTM as he liked to call it as code word although it wasn't much good as a code word as most people knew what it meant. He had a feeling something was wrong and he wanted to know what it was. He managed to catch Addison coming out of the day care centre carrying Cammie who had fallen asleep.

"Hey Addie are you free to talk?" Mark asked, jogging up to catch her.

"Does it look like it?"

"Er, right, yeah, sorry. Is she okay?" he asked, referring to Cammie, genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, she's fine, just fallen asleep. It's a long day for a five year old."

Mark nodded. "Do you need any help with anything?"

"No, I've got everything under control." she said smiling.

"Okay. Can we talk tomorrow then?"

"Of course."

"Thanks. Tomorrow morning, say 8.30 at the day care centre? That way I can see Cammie too."

Addison started to tear up which didn't go unnoticed by Mark. "Yeah sure. That would be great."

"Great. Hey Addi, is everything okay?"

Addison nodded. "Everything's fine. It's just great you took to being a dad so quickly."

"Don't speak too soon. I might still screw things up."

"I doubt it." She said with a smile. "That's why-" she began but decided against it.

"That's why what?" He asked.

"Nothing. I'll see you tomorrow Mark. Goodnight."

"Night Addi..." was his reply. He looked at his watch and saw it was 8.05. _Shit!_ he sprinted over to his office to change out of his scrubs and over to the front of the hospital to meet Zoey. As he bounded round the corner all thoughts of Addison left as he came to an abrupt halt when he saw the last two people he wanted talking together. Lexie and Zoey were sitting together and looking like they were best friends chatting and laughing together. _Double shit!_ he thought to himself. What had he done in a past life to deserve this?


	25. Author's Note

Hey guys!

Just a quick note to thank everyone who's read and reviewed my story – every review is very much appreciated and I apologise for not updating but I've had important exams, which have taken up a lot of my time. Anyway, I haven't had any reviews for the last chapter … it would be very much appreciated if you tell me what you think of the chapter and if you have any suggestions of where to go next because I'm stuck with where to take it so I know where to go when writing the next chapter.

Love you all, xxx


	26. Chapter 25

Lexie had gone by the time Mark had made his way over to where Zoey was sitting and that made him even more nervous. What were they talking about and did his name come up? Does Zoey know that he's still technically with Lexie? Does Lexie know what happened a couple of nights ago with Zoey? All these thoughts were swimming around in his head as a large lump had already formed at the back of his throat.

"Oh hey baby. I was wondering where you had got to." She greeted cheerfully.

Mark swallowed. "Well I'm here now." She seemed okay. She didn't look really pissed off. Maybe she was luring him in to a fault sense of security and she's about to blow his brains out with the machine gun within the next few minutes.

"Yeah. So you ready to go? Is everything okay?" she asked when Mark merely nodded.

"Yeah, everything's fine." Mark smiled weakly.

"Liar. Come on, you can tell me in the car on the way to your hotel." She said reaching out to take his hand.

As they walked out the hospital doors, Lexie looked on from a distance and smiled. It was only a matter of time.  
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"So what were you and Lexie talking about?" Mark asked once they were safely in the hotel room.

"Huh?"

"I saw you and Lexie talking before. Just wondering what you were talking about."

"Oh nothing much really. Just girl stuff."

"Really? Like what?"

Zoey didn't say anything for a moment. She was contemplating how to answer it. It was almost as if a light bulb went off above her head as an idea popped in to her head. "Oh she was just telling me about this guy she's been seeing."

"A guy she's seeing?" Mark's heart started to race.

"Yeah. It was really cute. She was like a schoolgirl again going on and on about how amazing he is. Actually it made me feel better about us being together knowing that she had moved on already. Although it was a bit fast but what can you do? Not my problem."

"Since when have you two been friends?"

"Well I felt really stupid about the way I reacted the other day and I wanted to apologise to her."

"What?!"

"Mark I completely overreacted, you know that as much as I do. I just wanted to make sure there was no confusion."

"And um, was there?"

"No not really. I said I was sorry for the way I reacted and she told me not to worry about it. I said I was just jealous and she said she would probably behave in the same way and then she went on about this new guy."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

Mark breathed out and relaxed. This may just be okay. He just had to make sure they didn't spend any time alone together. He just couldn't cope if the two of them started to become friends. Friends tell each other everything down to the men they sleep with. They become friends and he can say goodbye to his balls because they would soon find out the truth and to be honest he was rather fond of his genitalia and would prefer to have them still attached. "Right." he said, clapping his hands together. "How would you like some food? You must be starving, I know I am. We can order room service so you don't have to worry about going out."

"Room service sounds great. Have you got a menu anywhere?"

Mark pointed to where it was. "Have whatever you want."

"What about price?"

"That is not an issue. I am here to spoil you."

"Oh how romantic … right here in your hotel room." She said sarcastically but laughed as she said it. "If you wanted to spoil me, we could have gone out."

"If you'd rather go out …" Mark started with concern in his face.

"Don't worry I'm joking."

Mark smiled. "Of course you are. Right, you know what you want?"

"Mmm hmm. That and that please."

"That all you want?"

"Not hungry."

Mark raised his eyebrows. "Now that's a first." He joked which caused a pillow to be thrown at his head, which he nicely dodged causing the pillow to hit a wall.

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A couple of hours had passed and Mark was tidying the plates up from the room service. "Hey, Zo, you up to watching a film on pay-per-view?" Mark called through the bathroom door where Zoey was getting ready for bed.

"Yeah sure." She replied, emerging from the bathroom wearing nothing but a sexy black bra with red lace running through it and a matching thong, along with black stockings.

"Okay, flick through the channels until you find something you want." He said, flinging the remote control on the bed in front of her and returned to piling the dishes up. Zoey giggled to herself before making herself comfortable on the bed. She turned the television on and started to flick through the channels. She flicked passed the adult channel when she had an idea. "Mark, why don't you leave those outside the door."

"Why?" he asked, his back still to her.

"So the room service people won't have to knock on the door to pick them up."

"It won't make much difference will it?"

"Yes, it would mean that they can do their job quicker and go home to their families."

"Do you seriously care?"

"Yes."

"Alright I'll do it." he said, picking up the tray and putting it outside the door. He didn't understand why Zoey was so insistent on him doing so but he played along nonetheless. Once he was outside the room, he let the door close ajar, keeping his foot in the way to stop it from closing completely. As he sat the tray down on the floor, he heard moaning coming from inside the room.

Zoey saw Mark walk back in so she quickly turned the television off and lay propped up against the headboard and stretched her legs out crossing her right foot over her left. She put one arm flat on the bed and brought the other hand up to her cleavage.

"What are you watch-?" Mark began but got caught off guard at the sight before him. There she was, lying on his bed in a black thong, stroking her cleavage. He cursed silently to himself. Why did he promise Derek he wouldn't sleep with Zoey? He had told him everything that was going on with him and the love triangle that had appeared out of nowhere and Derek had made him promise he wouldn't continue to sleep with either of them until he knew who he wanted and had officially broke it off with the other. Just looking at the sexy form in front of him made him wonder how he ever got himself in this mess in the first place. He mentally kicked himself for making that promise as he felt his trousers tighten ever so quickly. He swallowed the lump that was forming at the back of his throat. "When did you get changed? I was gone for two seconds." He said croakily.

"About five minutes ago when I went to the bathroom." She said, as she seductively crawled to the end of the bed where Mark was standing.

The lump in his throat continued to grow which Mark had to keep swallowing. "How did I not notice?" he asked huskily.

Zoey gave a small shrug. "I guess you were too busy with the plates. You're not complaining are you?"

"Definitely not complaining." Mark said slowly with a hungry look in his eye as his eyes wondered down her breasts that were spilling out of her bra.

"You know you haven't been taking much notice of me recently…I'm starting to feel a bit neglected." She started to lean her face closer to Mark's.

"I'm sorry." Was all he could get out. He didn't care if that was true or not; at this point he would do anything for her, anything to get inside her, to feel her, to feed her need for her.

"Are you going to pay me more attention?" she asked moving in closer so their lips were almost touching. She shivered as Mark's hands ran down her back past her bra strap down her waist and stopped at her hip. He moved his right hand over her stomach and up to her breasts while his left fell comfortably to her ass. Not being able to take it anymore he closed the gap between them and kissed her hungrily on the lips. His tongue made its way in to her mouth and roamed every inch, not wanting to leave any part untouched. Zoey unbuttoned the shirt Mark was wearing and between the two of them, it was removed from his body. While they were still kissing Zoey unzipped his jeans and pulled them down with his boxers while Mark stepped out of them. Mark unclipped her bra strap within seconds and vigorously removed it from her body and threw it on the floor. He pushed her on to the bed and continued to rampage on her mouth. He quickly removed the thong and spreading her legs, sliding two fingers inside her centre. Zoey gasped at the unexpected sensation and allowed a moan to be released from deep inside her. It didn't take long before Zoey entire body started to quiver with desire and a full orgasm overtook her.

As Zoey lay in Mark's arms, she couldn't help but smile as she felt his soft breathing on the back of her neck. This is where she was meant to be and she had a sneaky suspicion she had known it since that first night they mad spent together.

**Please review!**


	27. Chapter 26

The following morning, Mark rang Addison and asked her to meet him at the cafeteria for coffee rather than at the day care. He thought it would be better to discuss their daughter as far away from Zoey as possible. He spent most of last night thinking about his situation with Addison and Cammie. There were so many unanswered questions: why did she start crying up when she saw him and their daughter together? Why did she spring this on him now? He used the time wisely and thought about his life and if he was ready to become "daddy". As fond as he was of Cammie, deep down, he knew he couldn't be a father to her, it just wouldn't be right. Goodness knows what Zoey would say if she knew he had fathered a baby with Addison just after they had split up. He knew it was Zoey he wanted to ultimately end up with and she was a young, gorgeous woman who just wanted to have fun and he was pretty sure she wouldn't want to be with a man with more baggage than terminal one at JFK. Lexie, however, being slightly older and possibly slightly more mature, would probably accept it and support him in whatever choices he would make where Cammie's concerned. So, why was he more inclined to choose Zoey over Lexie? Surely Lexie would be the better woman to go for, right? Mark sat at the nearest table to wait for Addison. He rested his elbows on the table, lacing his fingers together and leant his head against his fists. He forgot his girl dilemma for a moment and went back to Cammie. He thought about what fatherhood would bring and the responsibility that came with it. If he were to be honest with himself, he wouldn't mind having that extra responsibility. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to prove that he could be a better father than his own. He wanted to prove to everyone else that he could be a better person. So why didn't he want to be a father to Cammie? That's when it hit him; he wanted to be a father, just not to a little girl that had half of Addison's DNA. But it was too late – Cammie had met him and knew he was her dad. He had no choice in the matter. At that thought, he couldn't help but resent the little girl and he hated himself for it. It wasn't her fault, if anything it was Addison's fault. Well, technically it was his fault as well as he clearly wasn't careful enough but he wasn't going to admit that. No, he was more than happy to place the blame entirely on Addison. After all, he didn't ask for Addison to come to Seattle to drop this five-year-old bomb on him, he didn't ask to meet said bomb and he definitely didn't ask that said bomb called him daddy. He thought back to Zoey and knew there was no way she would accept this child in his life and knew that would be the end of the two of them and that thought just killed him. He cared more about Zoey than anyone else and knew he was hurting her and Lexie by staying with both of them. That's when he had his epiphany; he had to break up with Lexie today if it was the last thing he did. He knew he was going to hurt her but it had to be done. He also hated how he was going to ignore the fact that he has a daughter and probably shatter the little girl's heart but he felt it was the right thing to do. Damn it! Why didn't Addison talk to him first? Why couldn't she have given him enough time to think about being a father? The more he thought about it, the more frustrated he got. He banged his fists down on the table and ran off in the direction of the intern's locker room in search of Lexie, sending Addison a rain check, knowing the child could wait and Zoey couldn't.

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Zoey found it very difficult to look after Cammie knowing whom her father is. She looked over at the little redhead and felt sick at the thought that while she was being conceived, Zoey was still crying her eyes out because she had lost the man she loved and it was her own fault. She considered telling Cammie that her mother is an adulterous whore but thought it may not be the best idea she ever had – she didn't want to be the one responsible for teaching her nasty words. "Maybe if I sugar coat it a little bit …" she quietly said to herself. She was about to go over to Cammie when Lexie bounded down the hall and over to her.

"You didn't text me! What happened last night?" Lexie asked her, clearly in a rush.

"Lexie, you can't be here. We don't want anyone to be suspicious."

"Zoey, no' one's here and anyway, don't change the subject. What happened last night with Mark?"

"Erm, nothing really."

"Liar."

"I'm not lying."

"You are! I can tell when people are lying. Everyone has their tells and you always say erm, or uh, or some sort of filler before you tell a lie."

_Damn it!_ "Alright, something happened … actually a lot happened."

"Zoey, please tell me you didn't have sex with him?" Lexie pleaded.

"…Okay…"

"Zoey, you know that was not the plan! The plan was that neither of us have sex with him so it makes him think we're not interested, making him work harder for it."

"Really? Cause I thought we came up with the "no sex" rule to stop any jealousy."

"Yeah, and you broke that rule. How could you sleep with him?"

"Okay, listen, I wasn't going to but we were in his hotel room eating dinner and I was thinking about our plan of action and I had a thought. What if we did sleep with him? What if we have sex with him, say one more time… and then stop altogether?"

"What good would that do?"

"Well … okay say I had slept with him last night-"

"But you did sleep with him last night." Lexie interrupted.

"Yes I know, I was there. Okay, say you sleep with him the next time you see him and then neither of us do it whenever we spend the night with him."

"What will that do?"

"Oh I don't know, confuse him maybe?" Zoey said sarcastically. "It will make him crazy if he doesn't get any. So crazy that he just might tell us everything, however accidental it might be."

"I still don't get it."

"Just trust me, sleep with him one more time and then nothing – at all!"

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Mark was running all over the hospital looking for the brunette. In his head he was going over what he was going to say to her. He figured he would just tell her the truth and then pray she doesn't fertilize him or worse – cry. He was going mad, kicking open doors, peering in through windows of patients' rooms (slightly scary them) and even sent many interns and patients' family members in to the girls' restroom in search for her. He bounded up to Derek who was checking out the surgery board.

"You haven't seen Lexie have you?"

"Not for a while, no."

"Man, I've been going mad trying to find her."

"Have you tried the on-call room?"

"What do you think?"

"The OR?"

"Cafeteria, patients' rooms, the girls' bathroom, I've even tried the fucking roof! She's gone completely AWOL."

"Well if you can't find Lexie, I'm sure Zoey will be happy to have you." Derek smiled wickedly.

"Derek, can't you be serious for just one minute?" Mark asked sternly.

"Okay, chill out. Why do you want Lexie so badly?"

Mark sighed. "I'm ending it with her."

"Yeah, I've heard that before and look what happened."

"This is different Derek. I want to be with Zoey. I made the mistake of hurting her before and I ended up losing her. I could lose her all over again if I don't end it with Lexie."

Derek looked at him to try to get some confirmation. "You're serious aren't you? You're seriously going to break up with Lexie so you can be with Zoey."

"That's what I said."

Derek raised his eyebrows with surprise. "Wow."

"What's wow?"

"I never thought I'd see the day where you would actually make a decision and choose one of the girls."

"First time for everything. Sometimes, even I can surprise people."

Derek smirked. "By the way, have you got any plans for your birthday?"

"Nope."

"Do you want to do something for your birthday?"

"Nope."

"Mark!"

"Derek!"

"How about I talk to Meredith and she can organise something for you."

"Whatever." Mark shrugged and made a beeline for the pit, in hope or catching Lexie. Instead he bumped in to Addison.

"I've been looking for you. Where were you this morning?" Addison asked him in an accusatory tone.

"Please tell me you weren't waiting for me? I sent you a text asking to talk at a later date."

"Yeah, I know, I got it. I'm just curious why, that's all."

"I had to sort something out."

"Do you think you could be a little more vague?" she asked sarcastically.

"I just had stuff to do."

"Yep, you did it, that was more vague."

"Oh shut up Addison."

"Oh I'm sorry, has someone not been getting any recently and that's what's put you in this mood?"

"No. As a matter of fact I did get some last night but that's beside the point. In fact I don't know why I told you that, it's got nothing to do with you."

"Alright. I'm just trying to come up with an explanation for the cranky mood you're in."

Mark sighed. "It really doesn't matter. Call it stress related."

"Would seeing a five-year-old girl be any help to you?"

"Not really, no. In fact, it would probably add to the stress." Mark snapped.

"I don't understand. Yesterday you were all for seeing Cammie and spending time with her, taking her for ice cream. And now … what's going on? Are you having second thoughts?"

"Addi, it's not-" Mark started before getting interrupted by his pager that went off calling him to scrub in on a case that was meant to be scheduled for later that day. Mark groaned. "I'm sorry, I gotta go. I'll talk to you later." He said, before running off.

Addison nodded her head, knowing fully well that this would probably be the end of their chat.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Does he seriously not want to do anything for his birthday? It's next month isn't it?"

"Try next week."

"What?! I was sure his birthday was in June."

"Nope. More like May."

"But there was so much more I had planned!"

"Planned for what?"

Zoey's eyes widened. She didn't mean to say that out loud. "Erm, for his birthday present. I had planned something special for him that would take a bit longer than a week to sort out." She said, recovering.

Derek nodded but looked at her disbelieving. "Sure."

"Anyway, are you planning something?"

"No, I was going to leave that up to Meredith."

"Well, why don't I organise something?"

"I don't think that would be a good idea."

"Why not? I'm his girlfriend, I should be the one who organises his birthday surprises."

Derek sighed. He hated lying to her and he really wanted to tell her that he was still with Lexie but he knew that it would only cause her more pain. Besides, Mark seemed pretty determined he was going to end it with Lexie so there would be no point in telling Zoey anything. "I guess you're right."

Zoey grinned as she walked away from Derek. "You won't regret this." she called out to him. She grabbed her cell phone and started typing out a text. _Last step sprung in to action. Birthday next week._ She sent it to Lexie and slipped it back in her pocket grinning manically to herself. She could not wait for next week.

**Bad or good? Review! :D**


	28. Chapter 28

Mark found Addison walking out the day care. He had been looking all over for her and funnily enough, didn't think to look in the one place that was most obvious, other than the OR. Before Mark could say anything, Addison said, "I suppose you want to talk now, right?"

Mark sighed. "Yeah. Look, I'm sorry about before, it's been a crazy couple of days."

"Well I can't right now, I need to go and deliver a baby to a mother who is less likely to survive the birth and then a set of twins straight after that where one of them is breech, not to mention that Cammie won't settle so I need to keep running back and forth so now is really not a good time, Mark!" Addison snapped.

Mark was a little take aback. Addison had never spoken to him like that. "I'm sorry I didn't know. I'll leave you to it."

She grabbed his arm as he turned to leave. "Mark wait. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap."

"It's okay, forget about it."

"No it's not okay. I'm under a lot of stress at the moment and I just can't handle it anymore." She said, trying hard to swallow the lump that had quickly formed in her throat.

Mark looked at her sympathetically. "Hey, come on, this isn't like you. You don't crack under pressure and you certainly don't cry."

"A lot has changed in five years Mark. I do crack under pressure and I do cry – a lot actually. And you know what? I'm fed up of it." Just as she finished speaking her pager went off saying she was needed in the day care right after she got a 911 from a mother and baby going in to distress. Addison groaned and tried to fight back the tears that had made their way down her cheeks. "I can't do this, I just can't do it!"

Mark pulled her in to an embrace in an attempt to comfort her and sighed. "Go and answer the 911 and I'll go and see Cammie."

"But she needs me, she needs her mom."

"Addie, she also needs her dad. Go answer the 911."

This was the time that she was most grateful for Mark. She didn't know why she was so worried about telling him about Cammie in the first place. She should have known that despite everything, he would always be there for her. Addison pulled away and smiled weakly at him. "Thanks Mark."

He smiled back at her and kissed her forehead. "It's no problem. Look, we do have stuff to talk about. Meet me tomorrow morning and I promise, I won't leave you."

"Yeah, sure." Addison smiled weakly.

"Now go and save your patient." He chuckled to himself as it hit Addison's face that she probably needed to be in the OR and quickly ran off to the patient. He started to make his way over to the day care when it hit him what he had promised Addison he would check on his daughter in the one place that he knew he couldn't. He had no idea how he was going to get away with this one.

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Zoey made her way down the Day Care after she had spoken to Derek. As she walked in, Mrs. Smyth was tending to a little girl was in floods of tears. "Zoey can you please take over?" she heard her call to her. She nodded in response but soon regretted it when she saw the small redheaded little girl clearly in distress. She hesitated and considered making an excuse like running off to the toilet or even complaining of a cold, anything to not have to comfort that child – the spawn of Satan. "Zoey, can you come over here? I would continue but I can't get hold of her mother so I'm going to have to try a few calls."

Zoey sighed. "Sure." She knew none of this was her fault so she shouldn't blame her. Plus, she was extremely unhappy and unsettled about something. Perhaps Cammie knew she had taken an instant disliking to her. She walked over to where Mrs. Smyth had left her and sat down on one of the empty chairs, pulling her on to her lap and let her lean in to her chest. Fifteen minutes had passed and Cammie had finally calmed down and fell had fallen asleep in the corner. She wondered where Addison had got to and why she had left her daughter alone with strangers when she was in that state. She got up and went to get some paperwork for one of the mothers when Mark walked in. She turned round the corner, away from Mark's view, so he couldn't see her as she wanted to see why he was down there. "Can I help you?" she heard someone say to him; Mrs. Smyth had just come back in.

"Yeah, I'm looking for a child."

"This isn't an apartment store. Who are you looking for?"

Mark sighed. "Yeah, sorry. I'm looking for Cammie Montgomery." He said.

"Who are you in relation to her?"

Mark hesitated. "She's my friends daughter."

"Do you have written permission from the mother to see her?"

"Well … no. But she did ask me to check on her to see if she's okay."

"Sorry sir but unless you have written permission from the mother then I can't allow you to see her."

"Okay, I'll level with you, I'm her … um … I'm her father." He said quietly, clearing his throat and looking around, mainly to make sure no one had heard him say that. Thankfully, no' one else did; or so he thought.

"You're her father?"

Mark nodded. "I am."

"I'm going to need to speak to her mother first, just to make sure. Don't take it personally, I'm sure you are her father; I just need to double check. You could be anyone and I have a responsibility for the well fair of all children in my care."

"Okay but can you just tell me how she is then? Just so I can tell her mom."

"She's finally settled down but she was in quite a state. If you see her mother, can you tell her to talk to me about it."

"Okay, will do. Where is she now?." Mark asked.

"She's asleep in the corner but I can't let you go over there."

"I understand." He replied, looking over to the sleeping bundle. She looked so peaceful, what had got her so agitated that would put her in such a state. What would he have done if he had witnessed it? Would he be able to comfort her? He very much doubted it. "Okay, thanks." he called over to Mrs Smyth who had gone off to try to get hold of Addison. He took anther glance over at Cammie before turning to walk out. At this point Zoey thought it would be a good idea to make her appearance known. "Hey!" she called out to Mark, making his heart race due to fear of her finding out the truth about Cammie and the fright of her popping out of the blue. Zoey ran over to him and placing her hands on his shoulders, she reached up and kissed him on the lips gently. "What are you doing here?" she asked him casually.

"What? I was – I was looking for you." Mark replied nervously.

"Oh really? Well I've been in the room all day, haven't left."

"What?" Mark started to panic. Could she have overheard his conversation with the other lady? Could she know that the red headed little girl was his? Even if she didn't hear, it was possible that she put Cammie's age together with the time he had slept with Addison and worked the truth out on her own.

Zoey could hear the panic in his voice and she could see it in his face and yet she refused to tell him that she knew all along. It was way too early and she wanted the timing to be perfect. "Yeah but it doesn't matter. I'm glad you're here; there's something I need to talk to you about. Something really important."

Mark prepared himself for the worst. Things with Zoey wasn't going too badly apart from the Lexie thing. He knew that whatever was coming next would eventually be the end of their upcoming relationship. "Oh. What's that then?" Mark winced, as he waited for the slap that would soon go across his face.

Zoey's face broke in to a grin. "Relax will you. It's your birthday next week and I heard that you didn't want to do anything for it. What's up with that?"

Mark let out the breath that he had held in and a laugh escaped, mainly out of pure relief. "Oh Zoey, I wish you had started with that. I thought you were going to say you knew about-" Mark stopped abruptly. Was he seriously going to let his secret slip?

Zoey narrowed her eyes. "You thought I knew about what?"

"You knew that, erm, that Addison's in Seattle."

"What?" Zoey said, pretending to be shocked and succeeded. "When did she get here? Who is she?"

"She's the new attending. She's been here for about a week now."

"And you didn't think it would be a good idea to tell me? You know how much I despise that woman, Mark!"

"Exactly! What would be the point in telling you? All that would happen is you would get wound up and start something in the hospital. There would be no point. Besides, you're not exactly going to bump in to her are you?"

_Ha!_ Zoey thought to herself. _Too bad I already have and do – every single day!_ "Yeah. Not unless she has a child in day-care." She said, putting extra emphasis on the words day-care. "Oh hang on a moment. Her last name wouldn't be Montgomery, would it?"

"Ye-es." Mark replied slowly.

"You know what's funny?" Zoey laughed shortly. "I have met her already. I see her ever day when she drops her kid off in the morning when she starts her shift."

Marks heart sank. He had no idea where Zoey was going with this but he didn't like it. He just prayed she didn't know he was the father. How would she know? Unless Addison told her but she had no reason to tell a day-care worker who her father was. Unless Derek …

"Mark did you hear what I said?" Zoey asked, raising her voice slightly, bringing his attention back to her.

"What?"

"Did you know she had a child?"

"What? No! How would I know? I haven't seen her for five years!"

This time it was Zoey's heart that sank. She had no attention of letting on that she knew the child existed but seeing as that was where the conversation led to … she couldn't believe she actually thought that now Mark knew she knew Addison had a child, he might admit to actually being her father. "You had absolutely no idea that that five year old girl sleeping in the corner, belonged to Addison Montgomery? The woman you slept with five years ago."

Mark knew that he should probably tell the truth but he was too scared of losing Zoey. So he did the one thing he was best at – he lied. "No Zoey. I didn't have a clue that she belonged to Addison."

"You had no idea she was pregnant?"

Mark shook his head. This time, it wasn't a lie. He really had no idea that she was expecting a child when he took off to find Derek.

Zoey was slowly starting to despair. So she asked the one question she knew she needed to ask. "You are definitely not that child's father then?" A nice and simple yes or no answer – no loopholes.

Mark swallowed. "No, Zoey. That's not my child." He said hesitantly. Zoey nodded but she could feel her eyes start to water. There was no way she could let him see how badly his lies were affecting her. So she did the one thing she was good at. "I have to – have to go." She mumbled and legged it out the room, leaving behind a confused and guilt ridden Mark.

**A/N: if you like or didnt like, please let me know! :) **


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